Just a Girl
by DarkElements10
Summary: [Sequel to Just a Boy]. To the world she's Kendall's little sister. The girl that's BTR's number one fan. But Katie's just a girl, just dealing with her first boyfriend, just trying to grow up, and just trying to fit in. She knew living in the LA would be hard. But who knew she'd end up running around LA, trying to beat her bully at her own game? [Katie/OC]
1. Prologue

**Just a Girl**

**By: Riley**

**Summary**- -Sequel to Just a Boy-. –Rework of Do It All the world she's Kendall Knight's little sister. The girl that uses the guys' fame for her own monetary gain and is their number one fan. But Katie's just a girl, just trying to grow up, and just trying to fit in. She knew having a brother in the spotlight would be hard. She didn't know it'd be this hard. Katie/OC.

**Pairs: **Katie/OC and OC/OC, though the older teenagers' relationships are shown as well

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**.:Prologue:.**

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Katie Knight was not the kind of person that would allow other girls to walk all over her.

Ever since she was a little girl she would stand up to bullies, talk back to her classmates, and utilize her unique talents to get her way. That was probably why she didn't have a lot of friends growing up in Minnesota.

Chelsea and Sara had been the closest things she could call her friends for years, though she wasn't sure if they really were. They had grown up together and had been in the same class since Kindergarten and they always went to find each other when the first day of school came around. But as the school year went on and she listened to the other girls talk about Barbies and secret clubs to boys and makeup, she found that she didn't have a lot in common with them. Instead, she wanted to hang out with her brother, watch action movies, and play with hot wheels. It wasn't until she started to get an allowance that she found herself wanting to work hard to have a good job to make a lot of money. Her poker obsession only came about form one time that Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were supposed to babysit her and they didn't know what she liked to do for fun.

There were a lot of different things she liked to do, she liked to ride bikes, play volleyball, play field hockey—which she got kicked off the team for unsportsmanlike conduct—and lacrosse—which she also got kicked off of because of unsportsmanlike conduct. Who knew in the girls' version of the spots you couldn't hit anyone? It was unfair if you asked her. Yes, her tastes usually went more towards what girls her age weren't interested in and she figured that out pretty quickly as she continued to grow up, noticing that while the girls in her class were getting together for sleepovers, she was at home with her brother and his friends, watching them play hockey or playing video games together. It was a good like to her, she enjoyed it. Then came the time that they had gone on that one audition, she had been at the diner when it all went down, waiting for her mother to get off of work. As soon as she and her mother got home and found that the boys weren't there, she wasn't originally worried.

Then when they were an hour late, she started to wonder where they were. Her wonder turned to amusement when they arrived home with police. Then it all came crashing back down when Kendall explained that they had gone to take James to a singing audition and attacked a music producer before turning down the chance to go to Hollywood. Who wouldn't want to go to Hollywood? The fame, the stars, and the money? Katie couldn't believe it! Next thing she knew, she was sitting by the Palm Woods pool, charging everyone ten bucks to get into the VIP section behind a stupid piece of red velvet rope. As she put it; 'people in this town are suckers for red velvet rope'. And while she could be in the surf, sun, and sand day after day, going to school four hours a day at the Palm Woods School and doing whatever she wanted the rest of the day, she soon found herself lonely.

Her brother and his friends made new friends really quickly and she was sitting back, watching it all happen without friends of her own. Though she was good friends with their friends, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, and the Jacksons, she still didn't have what she always wanted…a best _girl _friend. And that was where Lizzie Zevon came in. She was everything that Katie wasn't and somehow they got along just fine; always at each other's houses if Lizzie wasn't at her performing arts school or in some music video, or with her brother, Dak, out of town, or at some dance class while Katie waited for her to get back. It was in those moments, and when she was at school that she felt the loneliest and wanted to try branching out.

Now that the guys were out of school she was facing the Palm Woods School and all of the new students alone. It wouldn't have been a problem if the popular girl, Victoria Hunter, hadn't set her eyes on Katie and vowed to make her life a living hell.

If Katie had known how two-faced and devious Victoria could be she wouldn't have gotten dragged into that kind of drama. If she knew what was coming, that she would get into a sort of war with Victoria that would result in them running all over LA to try and outdo each other, she probably would have done it all over again.

But she would have done it better…

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**A/N: **This story is a re-write of _Do It All Again_ as well as it bringing in the idea for another story I was working on before called _Big Sister. _So, some things from there are being reworked into this one. I hope you guys liked the start. I'll update again soon. Main character is Katie, but I'm going to try and work in the others characters better in this story than the last one. I wanted to follow what I had done for _Just a Boy _so this story starts out with a short prologue but the next chapter is longer.

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. Changes

**.:Chapter 01:.**

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"Katie! Hurry up or you're going to be late!"

"I'm coming!" Katie Knight called back. She turned back to the mirror and opened her eyes and mouth wide as she swiped mascara over her eyelashes. She had no idea why you needed to hold your mouth wide open to get the makeup on, but that's what her best friend, Lizzie Zevon had instructed her to do. According to her it, 'made sure that you held your eyelids apart wide enough so that your lashes didn't get stuck together'. In Katie's opinion, she didn't know why you would want to put something on your face if it had an opportunity to get your eyes stuck. But, Lizzie said she needed it, so she decided to try it out.

Katie never thought she would have ended up being best friends with a girl that was as girly as Lizzie, when she had first moved out to Los Angeles with the boys. While their outward appearances and their personalities were complete opposites, they actually had a lot in common. They had overbearing older brothers, they liked the same movies, they liked the same music, they liked the same books, and they liked to have silly fun as much as possible. And while Lizzie would rather flirt with boys and dress up and Katie would rather make money and work to become a talent manager they got along so well that they were at each other's houses all the time if Lizzie wasn't away for some reason or another.

Their friendship worked well enough that Lizzie taught her how to be a bit more girly, something that Katie had been insecure about since she first moved to LA, and Katie taught Lizzie street smarts that only hailed from someone who came from Minnesota.

"Katie!" Her mother called again.

"I'm coming!" Katie called one more time. She turned back to the window and rushed through the motion of putting on lip gloss. She checked her reflection one more time, moving her hair out of her face and adjusting it so it framed her face perfectly. Grabbing some hair clips, she slipped them into her hair to make sure it stayed in place, then hurried out of her room, plopping herself into her chair at the kitchen table. She picked up her spoon and started into her cereal. Ugh. Katie made a face. It was already starting to turn soggy.

Mrs. Knight must have noticed her daughter's grimace for she smiled smugly at her daughter at the top of the table. "You wouldn't have to worry about it if you had gotten ready, faster."

Katie sat back in her chair. "I would have had to worry about trying to get ready so fast if _James_ hadn't been hogging the bathroom." Katie kicked her leg out in front of her and smashed the toe of her shoe into James Diamond's knee. He let out a shriek and dropped his fork, grabbing onto his knee. "You don't even have to go to school now, why do you _still _spend hours in the bathroom?"

Katei scowled, resting her cheek in her hand. That was something she absolutely hated, that the boys at nineteen were now able to have as much free time as they wanted, while she was stuck in school for four hours of the day and trying to figure out what else she wanted to do. She had recently turned sixteen and was only just starting to figure out how badly she wanted to work in business or to become a talent manager for a celebrity. She had done a short stint with Russell Brand at the beach party that one time, but after looks at the legalities of it, she was only able to become a sort of a intern with him and was not looking for other ways to intern or get opportunities to become an actual talent manager. At the time she was still doing a few commercials, but not enough to get recognized as anything other than 'Kendall Knight's little sister.

"Oh come on, Katie, school isn't that bad," Logan Mitchell tried to reassure her, chewing his bite of eggs about thirty times before swallowing. Even that annoyed her a little, knowing he could take his time to eat breakfast and she was stuck in class. "It can actually be kind of fun."

"I'm sorry, I don't think you should be the one to give me education advice Mr. I-took-the-MCAT-too-early-so-I-failed-as-well-as-dragging-a-friend-to-do-it-so-she-failed-as-well," she said sharply. Logan's lips twitched for a moment before he shrugged and looked away.

"Katie, that was harsh," Kendall reprimanded her.

Katie immediately felt bad. Whenever her brother had something to say about her attitude or situation, she knew when to listen. Being three years younger than her brother, the two were closer than any other siblings than she had seen. They never fought—except the one prank war they had before they decided to have a tie between her and Kendall—and she looked up to him as a role model, helping him out with whatever he needed when he needed it. She could never say 'no' to him, even when she thought that it was a dumb idea. He was even the one that made sure that their mother didn't call her 'Apple', which really just showed Jennifer Knight's—who sometimes went by her middle name Kacy—upbringing by hippies in Virginia. Katie owed a lot of her experiences to her brother and didn't know what she would do without him. She hated to disappoint him as much as she hated to disappoint her mother.

And Katie did know that it was a bit harsh. Logan had always wanted to be a doctor and thought that taking and passing the MCAT as early as possible, when it usually wasn't supposed to be taken until after undergraduate years of college, would help him get there faster. However, he had taken their friend, and Kendall's girlfriend, Riley Jackson-McGuire along with him, as she wanted to become a doctor as well. Both of them failed the test and while Logan bounced back from it quickly, Riley had gone into a bit of a depression, having to re-evaluate her life, knowing she didn't have a lot of time to have that dream come true. Katie wasn't sure what she was studying now or what her plan was apart from hers and her family's band, but she didn't get ticked if it was brought up now. Katie wasn't sure if she was ticked at having failed the test or if it was that Logan had been mentioned. The two, along with Riley's twin Rhuben, had been best friends since they were eight, before Logan moved to Minnesota and after she and her family had moved to the US from Australia.

Last year, the two had a falling out after Riley got tired of the way that Logan had started to act, changing from his sweet, nerdy boy that she knew and loved to a more confident—borderline arrogant-, self assured young man that got jealous too easily and had a tendency to be indecisive and let him know it. The two then realized they never really were friends and she really didn't want to try again, knowing their relationship had changed since they were kids. It was hard seeing the two decide to stop being friends as they both didn't really want it, but knew it was for the best. Katie was glad to see that they still really cared for each other, though they didn't hang out or talk as much as they used to. They still would do anything to help each other if they needed it.

"Sorry, Logan," Katie apologized begrudgingly. She looked over at Kendall and he nodded at her, his green eyes flashing as he tried not to smile. Katie smiled back, knowing instinctively that he had felt the same way. Kendall and Carlos had cheered the loudest when they had graduated from the Palm Woods school.

"It's ok," Logan replied with a smile.

_They don't understand how what going to the Palm Woods School is like now, _Katie thought, scooping things around her place. _They were the popular ones; everything was fine when they were there. _Katie sighed a little, it was times like these she hated being one of the youngest of her friends.

"No it's not," Carlos said loudly, through a full mouth of food. "Katie's right! Going to school is so boring. I'm glad we're finally done with it."

"And I'm scared to see what you're going to do if this band ever goes south," Logan commented. He then let out a cry of fear and surprise as James got up from his seat and tackled Logan's out of his, knocking the two of them to the floor. "Ow! James!"

"Shh!" James leaned close to Logan's face, putting a finger to his lips. "Shh! Don't say that. Don't let the music gods hear you. You're going to jinx us." He then glared as he pointed a finger into Logan's face. Logan continued to groan and write under James's body, trying to push him off him. "I don't want you to ever hear you say that again, Logan Mitchell! Do you hear me?"

"Yes! James! Get off me!" Logan cried, his chest now being crushed on James's weight.

"And people wonder how I managed to stay sane around you all," Katie said, rolling her eyes. She then noticed her mother's gaze on her and she shifted to the side, turning her face away as far as possible. She knew what was coming and hoped that her mother wasn't going to make a big deal about it.

"Katie, are you wearing makeup?"

_Busted. _Katie bit her lower lip before turning to face her mother, nodding. "Yeah," she said and at Mrs. Knight's stern look she dropped her spoon and started to speak, hoping not to have a whining edge to her voice. "Mom, it's not a big deal. Just a little bit of mascara and lipgloss."

"Katie, I told you that you can't wear makeup until you're eighteen unless it's a special occasion," Mrs. Knight reminded her.

"I know, but it's not that much stuff." She gestured to her brother and his friends. "The guys didn't even notice and you know that Kendall and James watch me like a hawk!" At this, she glared at the blonde and tall brunette members of Big Time Rush. They both had the grace to look away and start whistling their innocence. "Mom, please. It's just a little-"

"No, Katie," Mrs. Knight said firmly. "Please go and wash it off and get your stuff or you'll be late for school."

Katie nodded and pushed her chair back, leaving the table. She walked into the bathroom and grabbed her purple washcloth and turned on the faucet, turning the water to run warm, and then scrubbed the small amount of makeup off her face. She didn't see the big deal; it was just some foundation, mascara and lip-gloss. Maybe she had been a bit heavy handed? Otherwise her mother probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. She didn't understand what the big deal was, she was sixteen now and should be allowed to wear a little bit of makeup sometimes, not just for special occasions. Once she was finished washing her face, Katie dried herself off, left the bathroom, and grabbed her backpack, ready to go to school.

"Bye!" She called, waving to the boys and her mother as she walked towards the door.

"See you later, Katie!" Kendall called back cheerfully.

"Have a good day, sweetie," Mrs. Knight added. She then turned to James and Logan, who were still lying on the floor and Carlos who had taken Logan plate and was trying to sneak his food onto his own plate. "James, get off of Logan, and Carlos, put that plate back."

Her mother definitely saw everything. Nothing got by her. Laughing, Katie waved again and left the apartment, closing the door behind her. She went to the elevator and called it, stepped inside. Bouncing her head back and forth the to the elevator music, she rode the elevator down and stepped out when the doors opened again. Bitters glared at her as she walked by his desk to go to school, Katie smiled and waved at him, causing him to glare harder. He always hated her and all of the other teenagers that had moved into the Palm Woods. It would explain why he was a manager there, he used their money and their fame for his own monetary gain and she loved to ruin his plans every chance she got.

Katie hitched her backpack up over her shoulder as she walked into the Palm Woods School. No matter how many times she went into the room, she still couldn't get used to the fact that the boys weren't going there anymore. Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James had finished their schooling the year before, all but Logan—who decided to take classes online as well as go to some classes on campus at UCLA-deciding to bypass college, so she was stuck in the Palm Woods School by herself. It wasn't that they didn't have to go to school anymore that bugged her, though that was a big part, it was the fact that they were able to hang out with their friends as much as they wanted to, if they weren't at Rocque Records.

This was the only time that she had been really jealous of them, not including their opportunity to go to LA of course. While she was stuck sitting in the Palm Woods School, pretending to pay attention to whatever it was that Miss. Collins was trying to teach a class of students that ranged from middle school to high school, her brother and his friends were doing god knows what and probably having a better time than she was. She just knew it. But they were a band and that was their job and there was nothing that she could do about it besides cash in on something that was great for them. Or find a way to use it to her own advantage, though most times it seemed to backfire in her face or her mom found a way to make her do good things with it.

"Hey Katie!" Katie looked up and immediately rolled her eyes with disdain as one of her classmates smiled flirtatiously at her. He nervously waved at her, noticing her eye roll. "How are you doing today?"

Katie ignored him and went to her desk, putting her backpack down on the floor and pulling out her binder. It was just another one of those guys that had moved into the Palm Woods while the guys were on their tour. Someone else who wanted to try and ride their fame as far as they could. It didn't take long for the new inhabitants of the home of the future famous to realize that she was _the_ Katie Knight, younger sister to Kendall, and they hadn't stopped bugging her ever since.

"Ugh, those guys _really_ annoy me," Katie mumbled, shaking her head.

A light giggle sounded to her right and she turned to see her classmate, Victoria Hunter, in her seat, her three best friends around her. She never seemed to be able to go anywhere without her posse and it caused Katie to constantly wonder if it was possible for any girls to go anywhere without having to have another one attached to her hip. Jo, Camille, and Stephanie didn't help her case at all, and even Lizzie had her moments of begging Katie to go with her to the bathroom just so they could keep talking. It must have been something that she, thankfully, didn't inherit in her girl genes.

Katie smiled to herself at the thought before she risked a glance at Victoria and her friends again. They were all smiling at Katie, which worried her a little. Katie didn't really have a problem with them; they were some of the new batch that had moved into the Palm Woods over the tour too. They weren't that bad for girls who obviously knew that they were very attractive, at least they talked to her so she wasn't completely alone in the classroom.

It was _outside _of the classroom that she had a problem with them.

If there was anyone that knew how to wrap adults around her finger with a fake mask of niceness and then whip that mask off to reveal how much of a troll she really was, it was Victoria.

"You _really_ can't see why they come at you like that?" Victoria asked, smiling brightly. She then took the time to look Katie up and down, her perfectly sculpted right eyebrow arching. "No offense, but you're Kendall's little sister, they're probably just trying to use you for your fame." She waved a hand. "Any guy would want to try to get that taste of the fast life."

Katie was only slightly offended. It wasn't the first time that people had used her to try and get to her brother, even her friends back home, well, ex-friends now, had tried to get her to get them concert tickets and signed merch, and backstage passes all for free. She gave them to them, but of course it wasn't for free. At first it was, because they were her friends and she would do anything for her friends, but after a while she realized that they were only using her and that was the only reason they kept talking to her. So after she cut ties with them, even though it killed her to see her monetary gain suffer, they had stopped calling and e-mailing. But it was no sweat off Katie's back; LA had taught her who her real friends were.

"Yeah, well-"Katie was about to continue but then noticed the bag that was on the floor by Victoria's feet. "Hey, what's with the bag?" She asked.

"What? This?" Victoria reached out with her foot and lightly kicked the flower-print bag with the tip of her shoe. "Oh yeah, I picked it up last night." She then pouted sympathetically. "It's too bad that you had to leave the mall so early. You could have gotten one too."

Katie's skin crawled with irritation. She did want to get that bag, the weekend before when she and Lizzie had gone to the mall to check out some new sales; Katie had seen it in Forever 21, her favorite store in the mall. She was talking to Lizzie about it, wondering which of her outfits it would look best with when Victoria had walked by. She stopped by Katie and looked at the bag with disdain, calling it ugly and wondering why anyone would want to by it. Katie had put the bag back and went to another rack to see which one would be better. She had planned to go back that weekend to buy it after all, but Victoria seemed to have beaten her to it.

"But I wanted-"

"And after we looked at it again, when we were leaving, I decided that _I _would look great wearing it. So I got the last one!" Victoria continued, as if Katie hadn't said anything. She grinned as she looked down at the bag lovingly, as if it were a pet. Katie could have sworn that she had seen an evil glint in Victoria's eyes as she bent down to brush some imaginary lint off of the bag.

"But why?" Katie sat up straight and looked Victoria in the eye. Victoria looked back at her, innocence radiating in her gray eyes. "Just last weekend you said that you didn't like flowery bags." She pointed out, trying to push down the feeling of annoyance that surged through her body.

"Hm, did I?" Victoria pretended to think about it. After a minute of faux thought, she shrugged and smiled pleasantly. "Well, I was wrong." She then turned her back on Katie and started talking to her three friends, all of their high pitches voices blended together, causing Katie to put her hands over her ears and slump over her desk.

_She's such a liar_. Katie shook her head. _Just yesterday she was making fun of me and saying that I had crappy taste in everything. Then she goes and buys the bag herself and shows up at school with it, acting like nothing even happened. She's a conniving little pin-head._

"Oh my gosh, Victoria!" Katie turned to the back of the room where a girl and her boyfriend, who seemed less interested than his girlfriend, were standing by Victoria, admiring her bag. "Is that a new bag?"

"Yeah." Victoria held it out in front of her, a sly smile on her face. Katie could have sworn that she looked over at her to be sure that she was watching.

"It's so cute!"

_She totally bought that bag just to annoy me_! Katie lowered her arms and pulled out her notebook as Miss. Collins walked to the front of the room. _I've only known her for three months and I already want to hurt her. Badly._

"Ok class, today we're going to do some last minute revision before your science test today," Miss. Collins said, clapping her hands together so she got everyone's attention. When the room was quiet, she smiled widely before looking around the room. "I know that there's so much that we have to go over, so we'll take as much time as we need, leaving the last hour for the test."

Victoria threw her hand into the air. "Miss. Collins, are we allowed to work in groups to study?"

"You can do whatever you want as long as you stay quiet," Miss. Collins said with a warm smile.

"Awesome!" Victoria turned to Katie. "Katie, come study with us!" Behind her, her friends all nodded encouragingly.

Katie gave her a funny look. Didn't she just make fun of Katie for not getting a bag that she had talked her out of the night before? And then she went and threw it in her face. Now she wanted her to work with them to study for a test? Katie felt that she had a better chance of spontaneously bursting into flames before that was ever going to happen. She didn't trust that girl; she was always nice to you seconds after she made fun of you. And if she didn't like you, then she made sure that you knew it.

"Oh come on," Victoria noticed her hesitation. "I'm sorry about the bag thing. Tell you what; I'll let you borrow it sometime." She offered.

Katie scowled.

"Come study with us, it'll be more fun than studying alone," Victoria's right hand man, Tiffany, added. It sounded like a sweet sentiment, but her tone was condescending.

_Yeah, but if I studied alone, I'll be able to drown out your voices with my music. _Katie started to turn them down, but Miss. Collins must have heard, for she spoke up at that moment.

"That's a great idea, Katie! Why don't you work with Victoria, she's been getting such a good grasp of what we've been going over lately, maybe she can help you."

Katie felt herself blush as she gathered up her things and moved her desk over to the pod that Victoria, Tiffany, Kristy, and Cara had made. She settled down in her seat and looked at her phone. Only three more hours and she was able to get out of there and go back to doing what really mattered; hanging out with her brother and being able to find ways to exploit him for all that he was worth.

Katie let out a sigh as she looked at the clock in class. She needed to get out of there or she would explode. She forced herself to listen to the squeals and giggles that came from the other girls as they studied. She had to admit, though, that the other girls seemed to know what they were talking about when it came to the test. But she was surprised that Victoria didn't help them study at all. She changed the subject when there was a lull in conversation or would just look at her phone to see what was going on in ScuttleButter. Every now and then, Victoria would turn her phone to show Katie was she was looking at. That Katie found a little weird, especially since Victoria didn't let _anyone _see her phone.

But she pushed the thoughts out of her head when the test came around. Katie sighed and pushed her books into her backpack, picking up her pen to get ready. She looked over at Victoria as she shifted her desk next to Katie's. Victoria flashed her pearly whites, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulders and winked at Katie.

_Nut job. _Katie shook her head and waited for Miss. Collins to hand her a test before she leaned forward and got to work. Katie let out a slight groan, resting her forehead in her left hand as she looked at the questions. _Where's Logan when you need him? _Katie let out a sigh before getting to work, doing the best that she could. It was bad enough that she wasn't particularly good at science, but what made it worse was Victoria was constantly trying to get her attention. At one moment when Miss. Collins wasn't looking, she leaned over and poked Katie on the arm until she finally turned to look at her.

"What?" Katie asked quietly. The girl was going to get a fist to the face if she didn't stop!

Victoria glanced at Miss. Collins and then looked at Katie again. Her grey eyes flashed with mischief, quickly shooing down towards Katie's test paper before up into the brunette's face. "Let me see your paper," she whispered.

"What?" Katie's eyebrows lowered. "No!"

"Oh come on." Victoria looked over at Miss. Collins once more before she slouched in her seat, making sure that she was hidden behind the students in front of her. She lazily tilted her head back, letting her long hair drift towards the floor. "It's not that big a deal just let me see one question."

"No way," Katie said.

She put her arm down on her desk to cover the sheet of paper and continued on with her test. Throughout the rest of the test she could feel Victoria's eyes glaring at her the whole time. She tried to ignore it the best that she could, but every now and then, her gaze would drift back to Victoria and she would find her glaring at her.

Miss. Collins called for the tests to be turned in and Katie gathered her things and practically flew out the door. She could never really understand why she had to go to school when it meant absolutely nothing to her. All she would want to do is take some math and business classes and go to college to major and minor in those subjects. But she was stuck in that small, one room classroom with people of all ages, having to study things she could really care less about, just because she needed to go to school and because her mother couldn't home school her. But it was all right, as long as the school days were only a few hours long, she could deal with it.

Katie stopped in her tracks when she threw open the door to 2J and got a good look at what was happening before her. Kendall, Carlos, and James were all standing around Logan who had a dress on. But the dress had fallen to his waist and his bare chest was showing as the other guys had a stuffed bra around him, trying to get it to look straight. Kendal had his hands on the obviously stuff bra cups as James was standing behind Logan, trying to get it to latch shut. Carlos was holding the top of the dress in his hands. They were all talking at once, shouting over each other to be heard, and didn't notice that she was there.

"I know that I'm going to regret asking this like I usually do when it comes to you idiots…" Katie closed the door behind her. As she spoke, the guys stopped what they were doing and slowly turned to look at her, eyes wide with shock and embarrassment. Logan even shot his hands up to his chest to cover his nipples. "But what are you doing?"

"That really depends," Kendall said slowly. He eyed his sister cautiously. "How badly do you want to know?"

"I'm just wondering what sort of trouble you could have possibly gotten into that needs you to dress Logan up like a girl…_again_!" Katie tossed her backpack to the floor, not wanting to think of school at the moment. "And where's Mom?" Her attention was brought back to the dress that Logan was wearing, recognizing it as one of her mother's favorites. "I'm sure that she's not going to be happy that you went through her closet and took her favorite dress."

"Trust me, Katie, this is completely needed," James said, disappearing behind Logan again. Logan struggled to continue hiding his chest with one hand while using the other to help Carlos pull the dress up. "Ok, now I need you guys to zip up the back and Logan, you need to suck it in the best that you can."

"I'm surrounded by morons." Katie muttered.

But she couldn't help the smile on her face.

Somehow, the boys and their antics always seemed to make her day.

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**A/N: **Like I said on twitter, some chapters will have the scenes I had finished in _Do It All Again, _but re-worked or having some other parts added along with it, just like this chapter was. Also, this story will have some spoilers to things we had planned for our season 3 timeline that we hadn't actually shown in a story yet. This story focuses mostly on Katie and the Katie/OC and OC/OC relationships, but it shows the older teenagers' relationships as well since it's a bit of a mixture of three stories: my original plot for this one, _Do It All Again, _and my other (now deleted) story _Big Sister_.

I hope you guys liked it. I'll have the next chapter up soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. Father-Daughter

**.:Chapter 02:.**

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"Kendall, will you take me out driving?" Katie asked, looking away from the driving booklet that sat in her lap. Brushing her hair behind her ears, she looked at her brother across the room as he sat on the couch, carefully wrapping tape around his hockey stick. "What's the point of having a permit if you can't drive?"

"Learning the ins and outs of it before you do," Kendall replied. He chuckled, dropping his stick to his lap. "Come on, Baby Sister, you know that Mom is really hesitant about driving. Remember? She wasn't even comfortable with me, James, and Carlos learning how after we finally got our permits."

Katie wrinkled her nose. "But you learned," she protested.

"Yeah, after stealing Mom's car once when I was fourteen, crashing it into the garage door. And then when we were out here, it took Ronan's convincing of Mom to let us learn, then he, Mom, Riles, and Rhubes all taught us how to drive and Riles and Rhubes didn't even do it legally."

Katie shrugged. "That's what fake ID is for." She then turned to Logan, who was sitting on the other end of the couch, knees propped up and a book resting on his knees. He was frowning at the pages, every now and then, flipping back and forth between three or four pages and highlighting something. "Logan, will you take me out driving?"

Logan opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Kendall's loud, obnoxious laughter, "You're running the risk of having a tyrant in the car with you when you drive. I mean, apart from the time that James almost killed her; even Riles is chill when driving. Logan is terrible."

Logan turned his gaze to Kendall. "I am _not _a tyrant when it comes to driving." He looked to Katie for support and she made an incoherent mumbling sound, turning her head away. Logan then pouted, crossing his arms over chest. "I'm _not_." Katie made the sound again, but this time, louder. She had witnessed from afar and been in the car when Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James all learned how to drive. Logan, being the only one to have his license by the time he had turned sixteen, acted like a know-it-all when it came to driving. His being so high-strung about being in the car with Kendall, James, and Carlos as well as his constant anecdotes about not wanting to die didn't help things either. Even Katie got stressed, sitting in the backseat, even going at fifteen miles an hour she would grab the armrests and wait for Logan to blow up, again, whenever the guys made a simple mistake.

Normally the last person she would ask to teacher her how to drive would have been Logan, but she was desperate at this point. "Anyway, Katie, it's probably better that Mama Knight gives you the first run through and after that you can have whoever you want teach you how."

Katie sighed loudly, tossing her book away on the other end of the couch. So much for that idea. Was it really so hard to do whatever she wanted at sixteen years old? Kendall had a_ lot _more freedom when he as sixteen, out at practically all hours of the night. Then again, he had a lot of friends and participated in almost every activity that she could think of at school so he had to be out at all hours of the day. She, on the other hand, if she wasn't in a mandatory sport that she had to participate in after school, either went to the diner to wait for her mother to finish and the two went home together, or she just went back home and watched TV for a while. Besides, she was the only girl in her family so she understood how she had a bit of a tighter rein held over her, especially since she had been so obsessed with FOX and everything that went with it that she was sure her mother was actually scared of her at some point or another. Scared she'd either gamble away the house or scared she'd find a way to knock over a bank.

"So what are you plans for today?" Katie changed the subject, resting her cheek in her hand, her elbow sitting on top of the couch. "Are you going to mess with Bitters or something?"

"Oh, I get it." Kendall put his hockey stick down and looked evenly at his little sister. "Katie, are you trying to stall so you don't have to go see Dad today?"

Katie's upper lip curled slightly. Kevin Knight had left them ages ago, only came back when he was working on a trial that just so happened to be so close to them, and since the last year was trying to make things better for his family. He didn't want to get back together with their mother that much was a bit obvious, besides, she was taken, but he seemed to be trying really hard to make things better between them. They, somewhat regularly, went to lunch and dinner and he had opened up his apartment saying if they ever needed a place to stay, he had a bed for them. Katie sometimes wondered if he ever got lonely living in a large apartment by himself, she didn't think he dated. And while Kevin was doing his best to make things better between his broken families, Kendall, for the most part, still made it hard for him to be brought into his life. They played hockey together every now and then but they were far from the relationship they used to have. Katie tried her hardest to get Kendall to admit that he wanted him back in his life, but he always changed the subject.

"I'm not trying to get out of it," Katie denied. "I just want to drive."

"She wants to be able to be alone with her _boooyyyyyfrrriiieeeennnd_," Logan teased, reaching over to poke Katie's cheek. Katie rolled her eyes, pushing his hand away, not particularly enjoying the way her cheeks flushed. Besides, what did Logan know? They weren't official or anything…she didn't know if they were, he hadn't said anything about it, so maybe he assumed they were. That wasn't so bad. She didn't get why most girls didn't like it when boys assumed that you were their girlfriend, it made _her_ feel good anyway.

"So?" Katie turned the tables back on Logan. "You always want to be alone with Camille. And you're _never_ alone when you're with Camille. I could walk into the Palm Woods and you'd be going at it on the couch."

"Why do you think we made the rule of having a rubber band on the door?" Kendall asked lifting his hockey stick and frowning at the taping he had done, ignoring Logan's cry of protest as the smarter boy's face turned red. He was always so meticulous about his hockey gear.

"I really didn't need to hear that, Big Brother, but thanks," Katie said. She lifted a hand, laughing. While she really _didn't _ want to hear about whatever any of the boys did behind closed doors—she made sure that they knew to knock whenever they went into her room too—she was glad that he was willing to say something, treating her like an adult rather than a little sister. However, there were still many times that she was treated like a little sister that needed to be protected. If she talked about going on a date, Kendall insisted that he went with them. This resulted in a lot of exasperation but Katie knew he was just trying to protect her as long as he could.

"Can we stop talking about me now?" Logan protested.

"Sure!" James announced his arrival as he, Carlos, and Mrs. Knight walked through the door of the apartment. James held a manila folder in his hand, Carlos was spinning his hockey helmet, and Mrs. Knight had a couple of bags of groceries. Kendall got up from the couch and went to help his mother as the other members of Big Time Rush sat on the couch as well. Katie moved into the corner before lifting her feet and resting them on James's thighs. He tickled the bottoms of her feet, causing her to laugh and pull them away. "We can talk about me. Thanks to Rhu taking my headshots and Riles helping me with my acting technique, I've booked a few commercials."

"That's so cool!" Katie leaned forward, beaming at him. "What are they for?"

Carlos then started to laugh, spinning his hockey helmet faster and faster. He smiled gleefully at his best friend. "They're dog food commercials," he said. "He made such a big deal about getting these and they're dog food commercials. So far, I think all he's doing is playing the son of someone in the commercial and he just gets seen eating cereal at the counter."

"Hey, any job is better than no job," Logan spoke up.

"That's right," James agreed.

"And the money that James makes, he can invest in something and-"

"Haha! Good one, Logie!" James reached over and slapped Logan on the shoulder before leaning forward and tossing the manila folder onto the table in front of him. Katie leaned forward and opened the folder, looking through the pictures that Rhuben Jackson-McGuire had taken to help her portfolio as well as to do James a favor. The headshots were really good, better than any professional photographer could do. Sure, she had a bit of a biased opinion as she was her friend, but it was still good. "As soon as I get money, I'm going to spend some of it and put the rest aside until I can think of anything else I want to spend it on."

"Which is code for 'I'm-going-to-spend-it-on-anything-I-can-think-of," Kendall spoke up from the kitchen.

"Think of it this way, James," Carlos said. His grin widened even further, if that was possible. "Now you can _really_ say that your girlfriend is a dog." He started laughing hysterically and James's face went slack with fury. Logan's eyes widened, Katie slapped her hands over her mouth, and Kendall pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh out loud. James slowly licked his lips before turning and, with a loud yell, leapt on top of Carlos. Logan, who was stuck in the crossfire, screamed as well as he was crushed between the tall brunette and the tiny Latino.

Katie laughed as James flailed his arms, trying to get to Carlos as Logan continued to be crushed between the two, all of their voices blending together as they continued to shout. Katie turned back towards the kitchen and watched as Mrs. Knight continued to put up the groceries, not seeming to be bothered by the screaming and shouting. Kendall was laughing as he finished putting up boxes of cereal and folded up the paper bags that were leftover. He leaned over and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek before running forward and leaping on top of the guys. Katie slid off of the couch, making sure she wasn't kicked in the face and whipped her phone out as she watched the four boys wrestle with each other.

_Boys, _she thought. _They never change. _After getting a sufficient video, she replaced her phone and walked over to Mrs. Knight. "Do you think that they'll ever stop behaving like this?"

"I give it another ten years before they grow out of it," Mrs. Knight said. She gave her daughter a wink and chuckled, putting away the last of the groceries. "Just like I'm betting this food isn't going to last ten minutes." She then snapped her fingers. "Oh, they're coming back today so we're probably going to be going out for dinner." She shook her head before smiling at Katie. "Are you ready to go see your father?"

Katie shrugged then scratched the back of her neck. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." She then pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Let me just get my purse." Katie walked out of the kitchen and into her room, grabbing her purse off of the counter. She turned to leave her room as her phone buzzed. Lifting her phone out of her pocket, she looked at the text.

**Lizzie: **What are you plans for today, girlie? I'm ready to go have some fun! :) :)

Katie smiled as she read the text. Lizzie's enthusiasm was evident even through text message. She could bet that Lizzie was taking a break from her constant picture taking to send the text. Whenever Lizzie Zevon had a phone in her hand, chances were that she was taking pictures of herself. Katie even had to ban her from her phone for a week to try and get her to stop but as soon as that phone was in her hand again, she went right back her personal photo shoot.

**Katie: **Actually, I'm going to have lunch with my Dad before we go to the airport.

Katie paused for a minute, moving her lower jaw to the side. Every time she had gone out with her father, things were kind of awkward. They did the whole catch up thing but they never really talked. She wasn't even really sure how she would react if Kevin ever tried to talk about his behavior before leaving. She had been so young when he left that she…didn't particularly care. _I wonder if he'd mind if I bring Lizzie along._

**Katie: **Actually. Do you want to come along? Free food and I could use someone on my side while I'm there. Or at least someone to talk to.

**Lizzie: **Well…if you're sure. I can meet you there, I just need to get the keys from Dak and meet you there.

Katie felt a twinge of jealousy as she texted Lizzie the address to the restaurant. She had gotten her license the year before, and while she wasn't a very good driver as it was—probably from her and Dak arguing as well as WayneWayne's ways of teaching her—, and was able to drive whenever she wanted. Lizzie very nearly had to pry the keys from Dak's hands the first time she had gone out driving. Maybe it was just a little sister thing. Katie then replaced her phone into her pocket and took her copy of the apartment keys and walked back out to the main area of the apartment. She gave the boys a funny look as she walked by them, they were still wrestling on the couch, but this time Kendall had his hockey stick and was routinely poking the guys with the flat end of the stick.

_Don't ask, Katie, don't ask, _she thought, holding upper her hands and quickly striding out of the apartment. She followed her mother down to the Palm Woods lobby and ignored Bitters as they went by his desk. Going towards Mrs. Knight's car, Katie jumped backwards as a Rolls Royce pulled up in front of her, nearly running her over. "Are you blind?!" Katie yelped as the car rolled to a stop. "You almost ran me over!"

"Sorry about that, Katie," Victoria said as she walked up behind Katie. Holding out a hand, a purse was dangling off her arm. Katie looked up and down and her upper lip curled when she saw the designer clothes that adorned her body. "I keep telling my driver that he needs to be more careful. He used to be a NASCAR driver, you know." Victoria flipped her sunglasses over her eyes and let out a short sigh. "It's hard to get good help, you know?" She giggled a little, gave Katie a finger wave, and made a show of opening the back door and gracefully sliding inside. Leaning over, she reached out and pulled the door shut with a loud slam. Katie's eyes narrowed at the tinted windows and waited as the car pulled away before starting to walk towards her mother's convertible again.

"Is that a friend of yours?" Mrs. Knight asked. "From the school?"

"Not exactly," Katie said slowly. "She goes to the school, yes, but I wouldn't say that we're friends." Katie shook her hand and climbed into the passenger seat of the car. She placed her purse on the ground, by her feet, before leaning forward and opened the glove compartment to take out her sunglasses. She put them over her face and leaned back, angling her head up towards the sun as Mrs. Knight started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Katie closed her eyes and allowed the smells and sounds of LA to wash over her. The palm trees gently swayed in the warm wind that blew from the ocean. Car horns and loud, pulsing music poured out of cars as they passed. Everyone they passed were smiling, obviously excited for whatever adventure they were about to go on. That was what she really liked about LA, it was an adventure, and there was always something going on and something new to do if she was bored. She didn't like to go to the beach, though she had been dragged there numerous times, and preferred to hang out in the city. There were many places that made the city feel stuffy and unwelcome, but there were other places that made the move from Minnesota totally worth it.

Katie only opened her eyes again when the car slowed down at the restaurant that Kevin had arranged for reservations. Katie picked up her purse and said a quick goodbye to her mother before climbing out, slamming the doors shut, and looking both ways before crossing the street to the sidewalk. She spotted Lizzie leaning against the wall of the restaurant, looking at her phone.

"Hey, Liz!"

"Katie! Hey!" Lizzie looked up, her green eyes flashing with excitement as she pushed herself away from the wall. The taller blonde girl wrapped her arms around Katie in a tight hug before pulling back and showing her phone screen, set on a light pink tunic. "What do you think of it? I was going to buy it to use for my dance classes. I need clothes that breathe."

Katie took in the silky, thin, flowing fabric. "It's totally, you, Lizz," Katie said honestly. "Real girly. I don't know anyone else that would wear it."

"I don't need your sarcastic tomboy attitude, Miss. Knight," Lizzie said, reaching out and poke Katie on the tip of her nose. She then smiled, showing off her pearly whites, and held her out her arm. Katie looped hers through it and started into the restaurant. "I can't believe I'm finally going to meet your Dad." She paused. "Officially anyway," she corrected herself. Katie nodded in understanding, knowing that she had been thinking about the trial that had brought Kevin back into their lives. Lizzie had never talked to him then, but Katie had pointed him out to her.

"Yeah, well, don't be surprised if he starts psychoanalyzing you," Katie murmured. She walked over to the host stand and got the host's attention. "We're here to see Kevin Knight."

"Right this way." The host smiled and picked up two menus, leading the girls through the back of the restaurant. Katie and her father locked eyes and Kevin smiled as he stood up to greet her. He gave her a one-armed hug, which she awkwardly returned, before sitting back down, holding out his hand, motioning for his daughter and her friend to sit. Katie and Lizzie got settled into their chairs, thanking the host as he gave them their water. "Your waiter will be here soon to take your order."

"Thanks." Kevin gave the host a smile before turning back to her. "It's good to see you, Katie, thanks for coming to meet with me."

"It's no problem," Katie said. She shrugged then motioned over to Lizzie, who had sat quietly, watching the two with slightly lowered eyebrows. "This is my friend, Lizzie Zevon."

"It's nice to meet you," Lizzie said, holding out her hand. Kevin reached out and took it, shaking it firmly. "I've heard…well, not a lot about you. But I've heard about you." She seemed to notice her error for she bit her lower lip and seemed to shrink before Katie's eyes. It was the first time she had seen her blonde friend so quiet.

"It's ok," Kevin said, to appease her. "If it helps, I've heard a lot about you." Lizzie sat up straight again. "Yeah, Katie talks about you all the time. Apparently you're her best friend." Katie smiled a little, blushing when she felt Lizzie wrap her arms around her shoulders and pull her into her side for a hug. "I can see that's true. But I've also heard about you from the Jacksons too." Katie stayed silent as Lizzie made a noise of surprise.

Kevin didn't have a choice but to know about the Jacksons, Logan, Carlos, and James more than any of the rest of their friends. Logan, Carlos, and James Kevin had known since they were kids and he had been best friends with James's father, so he got to know the boys very well. The Jacksons—or Jackson-McGuires as they were more commonly called—had been the subject of the trial that had brought Kevin back into their lives. It was their foster father and manager at the time, Robert, that Kevin was defending, Robert had been abusing them. After Kevin had lost the trial, he backed off for a while before wanting to restart his relationship with his family since the year before, using that time to get to know his family and their closest friends again. He had even personally apologized to the Jacksons, for what they had gone through, knowing how bad it was. Especially considering Kevin had abused Kendall for a short period of time, if Katie had to guess, it was his gnawing guilt and nothing more that had him want to try and start things over.

"Don't freak out about it," Katie murmured to Lizzie. "As a lawyer, Dad has lots of connections. He likes to know everything that Mom, Kendall, and I do and who we're friends with."

She waved a hand before picking up the menu and started to look it over. She was using it to hide her face, hoping he didn't see the flash of anxiety that came up. If he truly did know everything that went on in their lives and everything they had done, he would have killed her boyfriend, Patrick Jackson-McGuire. He would have killed him in an even more vicious way than Kendall or nay of the other boys could if they knew. Patrick, trying to deal with his unaddressed grief over his parents' death, had started to get into fights with people at a playground near the Palm Woods Park. They would play for things that were valuable to the participants and Patrick had gone a long time without losing. But being a celebrity, famous in his family's band, had backfired against him as the people he fought really wanted him to lose. Before Katie knew it, she was being held captive as Patrick fought someone and had been roughed up herself while Patrick was badly beaten. She managed to keep that secret while Patrick was sent to the hospital to deal with his brushings and sprains.

No one knew that she had been hurt, she kept it quiet and covered by makeup and she continued to keep that secret, knowing how much trouble she and her boyfriend would have been in. If Kevin had found out, he probably would have found a way to have him completely disappear with all of his medical and dental records wiped clean. Like he didn't exist. She was sure he had that sort of power if not knowing someone that did.

"Guilty as charged," Kevin joked. Lizzie laughed politely before picking up her own menu and started to look it over.

Katie decided what she wanted and lowered her menu, studying her father. He looked the same as he always did, almost the exact spitting image of Kendall if not for the fact that his face was rounder and his eyebrows were even more out of control. But he had the same green eyes, darker, more like Katie's, and blonde hair that had turned brown over the years, having her resemble him more than she remembered. But his eyes appeared kind and while he held himself in a way that showed his strong nature, he gave off the vibe that he was relaxed.

"So how have things been going for you, Katie?" Kevin asked. "Is school going Ok? Is English still your worst subject?"

"You have no idea." Katie rolled her eyes. "When speaking I can say exactly what I mean, when it comes to writing it, it all turns to crap."

Kevin laughed. "I don't doubt it," he admitted. "Even growing up, you didn't like it as much." He then turned to face Lizzie. "What about you? What sort of things do you like to study in school?"

Lizzie moved her hair over her shoulders. "I got to a performing arts school, actually," she replied. "Mostly in dance, that's what I study the most. Otherwise, I take the normal classes in school." She tapped her fingers together, wrinkling her nose. "I don't like to do much if it doesn't have to do with dance."

"I know what you mean," Kevin agreed. "I didn't like school much; it was only when I played hockey that would get me through the school day. You could barely get the stick or puck out of my hands, even when I was sleeping."

Katie just nodded.

She had heard that story many times before and didn't particularly care about it anymore. She knew the story. He grew up in Kansas, did nothing but play hockey, went to college in Minnesota, met her Mom, got very close to the NHL, started having kids, and everything all went downhill from there. Besides, as embarrassing as it was to say, she was too busy thinking about her boyfriend. He was going to be coming home later that day, which was why they were all going to the airport, to meet up with Ronan McGuire along with his kids Julius, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney Jackson-McGuire as well as Julius's wife Brittany. Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney were the famous Australian band the DarkElements and had befriended and helped Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James since the boys had moved to LA. The two bands had, relatively quickly, become best friends. Kendall was dating Riley and Logan had dated Rhuben before she dated Dak, she was dating Patrick, and Lizzie was dating Noah. Because they were primarily stationed in Australia, they were constantly going back and forth from LA to Sydney for work for three months.

Katie had never noticed how long three months was until she had started to unofficially—she still wasn't sure—date Patrick. It used to fly by, now she found herself like any other girl her age, waiting impatiently for an e-mail or a phone call or a text from her boyfriend. She tried to hide it the best she could, but practically sprouted wings and flew to her phone each time it made a sound. She didn't get how Kendall dealt with it so well, being someone that wasn't good at saying goodbye and was practically glued to his girlfriend's side before she left, even offering to go with her—which she loudly and vehemently denied, saying he had to focus on his own band—being able to go a couple of days without some sort of interaction with her and be perfectly fine about it. She didn't want to get started on how sappy he could be about it at times, though from the conversations she eavesdropped on, it got shot down pretty quickly, though she knew that Riley liked to hear that he missed her. Maybe it was because they had been dating so long and were used to leaving each other for their bands? Maybe because the two were used to the stress and pressure of having a full schedule that inhibited time to themselves?

Whatever the reason was, even Katie had started to annoy herself with how anxious she was to talk to him. But he was her first boyfriend as she was his first girlfriend so she wasn't exactly sure how to deal with it. If there was some sort of a handbook that could explain these things to her—though Lizzie and her vast boy knowledge came close—she would be good to go.

"Enough about that," Kevin waved his hand. "Let's get something to eat.

And as they ate their lunch, Katie found herself opening up to her father more and talking and laughing with him just as hard and comfortably as she would with her Mom and brother. Kevin was actually pretty funny; telling her stories about the kinds of trouble he had gotten in while in college with the hockey team, how he had managed to convince his teacher that he had turned in a large project that was worth half his grade he never started—Katie made mental notes on that plan—and even stories of what Kendall and Katie were like when they were growing up. Katie wasn't surprised to hear that she, at first, cried whenever Kendall came near her, but then turned around when he had sang her a lullaby to get to sleep once, then emulated him with everything after that. She didn't remember, but she had tried to play hockey once, but after getting hit the one time, she quit the sport and decided to watch instead. Besides as Kevin put it, he couldn't stand watching his little girl get hurt like that. The comment made Katie smile.

His little girl.

Deep down she had always wanted that, but there was still a big part of her that was hesitant to open her arms and have him back into their life again; wholly and completely. No. She was _not_ ready for that. She was ready for a lot of other things, but not to have him back all the time.

"You're at the age to be starting to drive right?" Kevin asked, getting her attention. Katie nodded and explained how she wasn't getting a lot of experience with it.

"I can teach you how," Lizzie offered.

"No offense, Lizzie, but you seem like the kind of driver that could easily be distracted," Kevin teased lightly. There was a bit of a serious hint to his tone, he didn't want to overstep his boundaries. "And I don't want to have to represent you in case you ever need to go to court."

Katie laughed loudly. "You're right, Dad." She pointed over at Lizzie as her friend stuck her tongue out at her. "She's so energetic and happy; her thoughts go a mile a minute. She talks that fast too; you can barely get a word in whenever she gets going."

Kevin continued to laugh, even needing to dab at his eyes to keep the tears at bay until he calmed down enough. "Well, if you never want help with it, just let me know I'd be glad to give you some pointers."

"Thanks." Katie smiled and nodded. She picked up her fork and started in on the chocolate pie she had gotten for desert. "So, Dad, tell Lizzie about the time that I managed to give Kendall a super wedgie."

She grinned as Kevin started the story and Lizzie listened, completely enraptured. To say she was a devious kid was an understatement. With Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James she was always able to get her way, only for the fact that they were scared of her tattling on them. Who knew that four, macho teenage boys could be such momma's boys. Either way, she used it to her advantage as often as she could. Katie felt a little sad then, suddenly realizing that there were so many things that he had missed while he had been gone. Birthdays, Christmases, special events. He hadn't been able to see it all happen in real life, she wasn't able to go and tell him that she did have a boyfriend and that, no, he couldn't threaten him or bring a shotgun to him. The boys had done that for her, the boys had done a lot of things for her. She wondered how sad Kevin had become when he realized those things. What was it that really made him want to go back and be with them? She was afraid to ask. She knew that Kendall knew, as he was older and that father-son relationship was, admittedly, a bit more important to mend. But she didn't want to ask him.

"Ah, looks like we've got to go," Kevin said, about an hour after they had finished their desert. He looked at his watch. "I promised your mother that you'd have you back in time to get to the airport to see your friends." Katie studied him for a long moment, watching as his eyes seemed to dim, losing their energy. He had planned on driving her back to the Palm Woods, to spend more time together. But now she was going to go with Lizzie straight to the airport. Katie's stomach clenched for a moment. Kevin waved a hand for the check and started to stand up, gathering his things together. "You all have a good time with your friends."

"Uh, Dad?" Katie moved out from her chair and stood next to him. She tilted her head back to see him; he towered over her at 6' 5" as she was only 5' 2". "Why don't you come with us?" Lizzie elbowed her in the side. "I mean, we're going to dinner after the airport and, I know we just ate, but maybe-"

Kevin blinked at her for a moment before smiling. "That sounds great, Katie, but I don't think your Mother or brother would want me there." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the head. "But I'll see you soon? Maybe next time we can go out for an early breakfast and then go shopping or something."

"If you're going shopping, I _have_ to go too!" Lizzie declared.

Kevin laughed. "Ok, you can go too, Lizzie."

"Thanks Dad." Katie waved at her father before following Lizzie out of the restaurant. Once she was back outside, she took in a deep breath, hoping to calm her nerves a little.

"Your dad's nice," Lizzie said.

"Yeah." Katie briefly closed her eyes. "He is."

Lizzie kicked at the ground for a moment, allowing Katie to get whatever it was she needed out of her system. Katie then opened her eyes and the two started to walk towards Lizzie's car. The further they got away from the restaurant the more excited Lizzie seemed to become again, practically skipping as she went. Katie laughed as she watched her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting to the car faster." Lizzie turned around and started to smooth down Katie's hair, then checked her face for her makeup. It was a special occasion, so this time her mother allowed her to wear a bit of makeup. "You look gorgeous as usual." Katie fought the urge to roll her eyes and correct her. She was definitely not the pretty one, if the two were being compared. In her opinion anyway. "Now…" Lizzie grinned. "Are you ready to see your boyfriend?"

Katie's stomach clenched again, butterflies erupting through her stomach, her hand started to sweat despite the large smile on her face. Boyfriend. She liked the sound of that. "Definitely."

"Then let's go!"

Lizzie grabbed onto Katie's hand and, giggling, the two ran down the sidewalk.


	4. Missed Opportunities

**.:Chapter 03:.**

* * *

"God, I don't think I can eat anymore," Carlos groaned. He placed his hands no his stomach, pushing his chair back and stretching out his legs. His stomach bulged out over the top of his jeans. Stephanie, who was sitting to his side, leaned over and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, patting his stomach with her free hand.

"Looks like you have a food baby," Jo teased.

"If that's the case then you better not be around when it's born," James remarked. The table erupted into loud laughter and groans of disgust and James had a rain of balled up napkins thrown his way. Katie, who was used to the guys' sense of humor, just rolled her eyes. She placed her hands in her lap as she looked around at the table. A table that hadn't been so full in the past three months, she was surprised that the restaurant had enough seats for everyone. Granted, the adults; Gustavo, Kelly, Mrs. Knight, and Ronan McGuire were sitting at the bar, talking and laughing with each other, enjoying their own conversation. Katie's eyes scanned the table, looking at all of her friends, smiling as she watched them all, it was funny how they all had managed to instinctively pair up over the years; Carlos and Stephanie, Logan and Camille, Kendall and Riley, James and Jo, Dak and Rhuben, Noah and Lizzie, Patrick and herself, and then Sydney, who was the youngest, and WayneWayne, who was currently between girlfriends, were the only single ones at the table.

Katie smiled to herself as she thought about the commotion that had been created while they were at the airport to pick them up. She hadn't seen that many flashes of photography since she had been at their concert in London. But taking one step into the airport and she was already blinded by a camera flash. Katie instinctively moved into Kendall's side, trying to shield herself from the onslaught.

"Man, who ever thought we'd be big enough to have paparazzi following us around?" Logan asked, holding tightly onto Camille's hand as they navigated through the airport to wait for their friends to get off their flight.

"I did!" James stopped, letting go of Jo's hand to pose for a picture. After a few solo shots, he pulled Jo into his side so there could be pictures of the two of them. Katie smiled when she noticed the tight-lipped smile on Jo's face. She definitely wasn't happy with the cameras constantly being pointed in her face, no matter how much of a good spot she was.

Katie, as always, had to knock him down a peg. "This isn't paparazzi," She protested, then pointed over to one of the men that was kneeling at their side, focusing his camera for another picture. "This is from Just Jared Jr. and other websites like that. None of you guys are famous enough for paparazzi." Lizzie, from Katie's side, loudly cleared her throat. "Except, Dak, I mean."

"Thank you." Dak grinned waved for a camera before making a gesture that he wanted to keep going.

The photographer dutifully stepped out of his way and the group continued to surge forward. Katie looked around the airport and watched as other passengers who were coming from their flights or waiting for their own. A few glanced their way; otherwise, they weren't getting a lot of attention. Hopefully it was because the flight was so late at night; the fans didn't catch wind that they were going to be there. If there were fans swarming around, they wouldn't be able to get anywhere.

"To be honest, I don't think I ever saw this much buzz for anything this big," Katie muttered.

"Please." Lizzie waved a hand. "Wait until you get to the Grammy's or something upscale like that, there are photogs _everywhere_." Lizzie then grabbed onto Katie's hand and turned to Kendall. "We're going to the bathroom, be right back."

"Ok," Kendall said. "We'll be by the security gate when you guys get back."

"Make sure you have your phone with you," Mrs. Knight added. "Just in case you get lost or something." Katie tried hard not to roll her eyes. She was sixteen, not six; she knew how to have her phone on her whenever she went somewhere. Instead, she gave her mother a smile and a nod. Mrs. Knight looked worried for a moment, and then shook her head with a smile. "Don't be too long."

"We won't, Mrs. Knight," Lizzie said, already tugging Katie towards the bathroom. "Promise. Be right back."

"Whoa!" Katie's feet nearly slid out from underneath her when Lizzie pulled her harder, practically dragging her into the bathroom. "Lizz, I don't have to go!"

"Of _course _you don't," Lizzie said with a roll of her eyes. "I just said that so we could check to make sure our makeup looked Ok." Once in the bathroom, Lizzie marched right up to a mirror and leaned in close, opening her green eyes wide to check her mascara. "Didn't you see the way Dak rolled his eyes? I do this all the time. It gets on his nerves." She shook her head lightly before motioning for Katie to move up to the mirror as well. "In fact, I'm sure all the guys get annoyed when their girlfriends do this. And trust me, they all do."

Lizzie pulled a tube of mascara out of her pocket and ran it over her lashes a few times, keeping her mouth and eyes wide open as she did so. Katie laughed at Lizzie's reflection, and then leaned into the mirror herself. She studied her face, nice and sweet, a little round, the baby face that she already had. She was sixteen years old and was constantly mistaken for about eleven or twelve because of it. Her makeup looked OK; nothing had smudged since they had driven to the airport. Thankfully Lizzie had been able to use Dak's truck while Dak rode in WayneWayne's car along with the former bad-boy, that way they would have the truck to themselves as they went to the restaurant.

Katie started to blush at the thought.

Lizzie noticed and grinned at her friend. "Aww, that's so sweet." She cooed. "You're thinking about your 'welcome back' kiss aren't ya?" Katie made a strange gargling sound, turning away from the mirror, facing Lizzie. Her own hazel eyes widened, she could feel her face reddening even further. "What? That's, like, the staple of being in a long-distance relationship. The welcome back kiss."

"Is that as stupid as Kendall's and Jo's 'goodbye kiss' thing?" Katie's upper lip curled for a moment.

As much as she loved her brother, there were times where she wondered if all he thought about was how to be more romantic than his previous relationship. His desperation to have one last 'goodbye kiss' with Jo before she had left for New Zealand kind of scared her, but he had, what she thought, been in love with her, so she, kind of, understood it. She didn't get love in general, knowing that she, herself, had never been in love. For a while, she didn't want it. Who wanted to act all…sickeningly sweet with one person for the rest of your life when you could use that time to make money? If it was possible to love money, then she loved it and no one and nothing else.

"No, this is more romantic," Lizzie said. She gave a wistful sigh, pressing a hand to her chest. "You haven't seen the one you're in love with for months at a time, and it's the first embrace you have when you get back." She waved her hands. "So what if you're in an airport, your brother is there, and there are hundreds of people taking your picture? It's worth it."

Katie snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Is that why you've been so giddy today?"

Lizzie giggled to herself before throwing a wink at the mirror. "Of course." She brushed her hair over her shoulders and Katie watched as every strand of her blonde hair fell into place. She then turned and glanced at herself in the mirror. She hated to do this, to compare herself to her best friend, but she couldn't help it. There were obvious beauty differences between the two of them; Lizzie often got mistaken for being a couple years older than seventeen, rather than younger. The only time she was treated like a kid was when her brother got increasingly uncomfortable with guys looking at her and her boy obsession. Katie called it an obsession, Lizzie called it a fascination.

"Noah's a good kisser," Lizzie continued. She grinned. "Better than I originally imagined, anyway."

"Good for you," Katie murmured, still looking at her reflection.

Lizzie sighed loudly and turned Katie away from the mirror. "You look hot, Katie. Really." Katie's upper lip curled for a moment. She wasn't used to hearing that, that she was hot. Not even her fans called her that, yeah, it was strange to know she had fans when she didn't early do anything. She was just Kendall's sister who was their number one fan and liked to be able to go see their shows and support them when she could. She was always called 'cute' or 'sweet', not 'hot' or 'beautiful' or 'sexy'. Actually, she probably wouldn't have liked being called sexy so much. The idea made her shudder. "You just need a little bit more lipgloss." Lizzie reached into her other jeans pocket and pulled out a pink vial.

Lizzie use her teeth to take the cap off, and spread the pink, thick, liquid on to Katie's lips. When instructed, Katie rubbed her lips together before grabbing a paper towel out of the dispenser and blotting her mouth. As Katie threw the towel away, Lizzie reached out and fluffed Katie's hair a little bit. Then she smiled, placed her hands on Katie's shoulders, and leaned in, giving her a loud kiss on the cheek. "You look perfect, darling," she said in a Parisian accent.

Katie pretended to scowl, wiping off her cheek. "I hate it when you do that," she murmured.

"Aww, you love me and you know it."

"Yeah, sure." Katie put her arm through Lizzie's. "Come on, we're going to miss their flight and I'm already anxious as it is." Now Katie dragged Lizzie out of the bathroom and through the airport towards security. She wished they could be able to stand outside the gate, but that wasn't allowed anymore. In a way, she was grateful for it, knowing she'd probably do something stupid if she was right there when Patrick stepped off the plane.

What did he look like now? Was he tanner? Did he prefer to wear his glasses now? Was his hair up in spikes? Was it down to his shoulders? She liked the way it looked down to his shoulders, long enough so it gave him a warmer look compared to his punk rock image. Would he kiss her when he saw her? Would that be awkward? Most likely, it'd be her first kiss anyway…he was her first boyfriend and he would be her first kiss… Katie glanced over at Lizzie, who allowed herself to be pulled along with her. _Of course she hasn't had any problems with being kissed._

Katie pushed the thought out of her head and joined her brother and his friends at the security gate. Katie wasn't paying too close attention to what was being said, Dak, WayneWayne, James, and Carlos were talking about something big, their hands moving animatedly as they talked, Jo, Camille, and Stephanie were talking to Logan and Kendall while Kendall fidgeted with a bouquet of daisies in his hand—which was typical of him, Katie noted—and Mrs. Knight, Gustavo, and Kelly were standing off at the side, one eye on the teenagers, the other on the photographers as they hovered around.

Katie stopped and smiled for a few pictures, otherwise she ignored them the best she could, trying to detach herself from the situation. Her nerves were getting the best of her anyway. Should she hug Patrick when she saw him again? Give a high-five? Should _she_ be the one to go in for the kiss?

_Why does growing up have to be so hard? _Katie agonized. Things were a lot easier to understand when she was younger; all she cared about was comic books, making money, buying things, and hanging out with her brother. Now that dating was thrown into the mix, things were more complicated than ever.

"Hi!"

"Hey!"

"Oh my god, it's good to see you!"

Katie slapped her hands over her ears as shrieking filled the air and she turned around to see Jo, Camille, and Stephanie had practically catapulted themselves onto Riley and Rhuben Jackson-McGuire to give them hugs. Before she knew it, cameras were flashing at higher rates than before, the air was filled with chatter and laughter and hugs were being exchanged around her. Katie watched her brother as he held his arm behind his back, smiling at his girlfriend before using his free hand to give her a tight hug.

"You look great," he said to her, smiling wider than Katie had seen him the past couple of days.

"I looked tired, actually, but thanks, Hockey-Head, I needed that," Riley said, her blue eyes flashing with happiness. Her eyes then moved to his arm. "So, did Carlos break off your arm trying to get food or…?" With a flourish, Kendall presented her with the bouquet and Riley beamed. "They're beautiful, Kendall. Thank you." Riley stepped forward and gave Kendall a medium-length kiss before hugging him again.

Katie smiled, a little surprised. Riley had never been a big fan of PDA and she was adamant that she wasn't the kind of girl that liked to get flowers, saying she had allergies, no matter how much she liked them, but there was no mistaking the happiness in the Australian girl's face. Katie knew she would like it, especially since Kendall had taken Katie with him to figure out how to get the bouquet wrapped with a girl's touch. She was pleased to see it had gone over well. Katie then turned to Dak to see how he was faring with Rhuben, Riley's twin. On the way in, she hadn't seen him with anything, but as he watched him, he gave her a good looking kiss before pressing his forehead against Rhuben's and the two talking quietly, she saw he had given her a stuffed bear. Where he had suddenly produced it, she wasn't sure. But him kissing her in public surprised her, too, as the Jacksons girls both weren't big fans of PDA at all—so she just chalked it up to the excitement of seeing them after being gone for three months.

She could understand that, though she didn't particularly think she was going to get a kiss. She had hope. But she didn't think she would.

"Looking for me?"

Katie turned the other way and came face to face with Patrick Jackson-McGuire. Katie felt herself starting to smile as she took in him, not sure what to do otherwise. He had his hair up in his familiar spiky style. Instead of wearing contacts, he was wearing glasses; he didn't have his piercings in his lip, and was wearing a yellow button down shirt that hung off one shoulder, revealing his tattooed shoulder from the white wife-beater he was wearing as well. Patrick's smile widened the longer Katie didn't say anything.

"I knew that I had this affect on girls sometimes, but I didn't think I'd make you speechless," he teased.

The joke caused Katie to break out of her thoughts and roll her eyes, reaching out and punching Patrick on the shoulder. She immediately dropped her hand as Patrick chuckled. There goes the moment to potentially get her first kiss. "Please, you're not _that_ good looking," she joked back.

"I am," Patrick denied. "And you can admit it on your own time if you're not ready to do it now." He shifted his backpack on his shoulder before leaning in to give her a warm hug. Katie wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back. He had definitely worked out while he was away, she could feel his muscles tight against her back, holding her in place. She liked that feeling.

"So, you've been working out, huh?" Katie took a step back, looking at him. His intense gaze, his sharp blue eyes, made her look away for a moment, blushing again. She was doing that a lot today. Katie suddenly became self-conscious, running her hands on the sides of her jeans. "Have you gotten into any more fights?"

Patrick's smile dropped for a moment and he looked away from her. She knew he was remembering how long he had been in the hospital, how long he had been on crutches after a sprain and some bruising, how he had to lie to his fans about what happened, knowing he could get a lot of backlash and trouble for it. When he turned back to her, that familiar smile was back. "Only if they were scheduled through the gym, to practice my kickboxing and stuff. Otherwise, we had been on a constantly moving schedule." He started to snap rapidly, to show her what he meant. "I'm sorry I didn't call as much."

"It's ok!" Katie said quickly. "It's not like…I was waiting by the phone or anything. I had plenty to do." She brought up a hand and scratched the back of her head, looking around. Patrick cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. _This is so awkward._

Thankfully, she was saved by Ronan speaking up. "We're kind of blocking the area, why don't we start going to the restaurant?" He turned to Gustavo and smirked at him. "If you don't want to pay, I'll be glad to do it."

Gustavo's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying that if you want to focus on eating all of the food compared to paying for it…" Ronan shrugged. "You're going to have a heart attack with either option, so why don't I just-"

"Can it, McGuire!" Gustavo snapped, pointing at him. "I'll have you know I've been strictly following my diet with no problems. And I can be generous when I want to be! So the food is on me!" He stuck his nose in the air and led the group out of the airport.

"You tricked him into that, didn't you?" Sydney asked, looking up at this father.

"Of course," Ronan replied and gave him a high-five.

Katie turned to follow them, but stopped when Patrick said her name. She turned back around and sat him standing behind her, a curious expression on his face, holding out his hand. Katie smiled and grabbed onto it and the two followed everyone out of the restaurant.

They had held hands the whole way to the restaurant, but since then he hadn't made a move to touch her. Not that he really had the chance, Katie wanted him to sit next to her at the table, but Lizzie maneuvered him to sit across from her, explaining it was better to look at your date when going out to eat as opposed to sitting next to each other. That didn't help the butterflies that erupted into Katie's stomach each time she caught Patrick's gaze or when he would move his foot and it'd bump against hers. Katie thought about doing the same to his foot, but talked herself out of it. She couldn't help but notice everyone else being comfortable around their boyfriend and girlfriend, when was she going to get to that point.

They had finished desert and was just talking to each other when Katie felt Patrick bump her foot again. Looking up, Katie noticed Patrick widen his eyes slightly, and then tilt his head back. She got the hint immediately and stood up. "I'm going to check out the arcade," she said, pushing her chair back loudly. "Maybe they have that Capcom-Marvel game." Katie quickly moved away from the table and walked over to the small arcade that was situated in the corner of the restaurant. She ran a hand through her hair and started to pace back and forth.

What was going to happen now?

Katie was still pacing when Patrick joined her in the arcade. She turned around, moving so fast that she crashed into him. Patrick chucked, wrapping his arms around her to steady her, a charming smile sliding onto his face, tightening his grip of one arm around her waist. "Either you've gone crazy without us around or it runs in the family and I'm just starting to notice it." His accented voice, so close to her ear, sent shivers down Katie's spine.

"Please." Katie pushed herself away so she could look up at him. "Your family is the crazy one. I don't think I've met anyone that's as rambunctious as you guys."

"We get bored easily, so sue us," Patrick said. He rolled his eyes, and then shrugged, dropping his arms from Katie's waist. He scratched the back of his head. "So I didn't get to tell you, when we were at the airport, that you look really good day." His cheeks flushed a little.

"Really?" Katie frowned a little. Good. Just good. Not amazing. Or beautiful. Or hot. Or sexy. But good. "Thanks."

"No worries." He shuffled his feet for a moment, and then cleared his throat, looking at her, confidence now oozing out of his pores. "Anyway, I just wanted to see how you were doing. How LA has been…how the guys have been…" His eyes lit up and he started to dig through his pockets. "Oh! And I have something for you around here somewhere."

"You didn't need to bring me back anything," Katie said quickly. She had nothing for him, now what was she going to do? "Money, sure, I'd love that. But still…" she smiled as Patrick laughed, feeling the anxiety roll out of her body. She always felt comfortable around him, and being able to make him laugh as easily as he made _her _laugh was good enough for her.

"Yeah, but when I saw this, I knew you had to have it." Patrick finally reached into the bottom pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled out a tiny, silver bracelet. He gently handed it over to her and Katie's eyes widened as she took it. The silver sparkled like diamonds each way she twisted and turned it, the intricate loops holding it together, the clasps help together with little infinity signs, looping all around the bracelet. "I hope you like it."

"I do," Katie said. "It's beautiful." She held it in her hand, scared to put it on in case she dropped it or her hands were shaking too hard. Katie lifted her gaze. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Patrick smiled and reached out, pushing her hair out of her face. He gently cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb over the soft skin. Katie's heart thumped against her breastbone so hard it actually started to hurt. She licked her lips in anticipation and continued to look at him. Patrick slowly started to lean in towards her, ducking his head as he did so. She felt his breath on her face, his nose bump against hers, and then-

"Katie, are you ready to go?"

Patrick jumped backwards and the two turned to face Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James as they stood in the doorway to the arcade. Katie bit her lower lip and looked at her feet, feeling her eyes suddenly well up with tears. Her stomach sank to her feet and disappointment radiated through her body. "Yeah," she finally managed to say. "I'm ready to go." _Now that you've ruined everything, _she thought. Keeping her gaze on the ground, she speed-walked out of the arcade. Rounding the corner, she nearly bumped into Riley, who had her arms crossed over her chest. The older teenage girl took one look at Katie's face and shook her head.

"Sorry, Kid, I tried to keep him from going in there," she apologized and Katie immediately knew she was talking about Kendall. "In a movie theater, it's easier to keep him rows away, but from an arcade…not even the temptation of a chocolate chip cookie dough sundae would get him to stop." She rolled her eyes, her upper lip curling slightly. "And you know he'd sell his soul for one of those."

"It's ok," Katie mumbled. "Not like we were doing anything anyway." Riley reached out an arm and wrapped it around Katie's shoulders, pulling her into her side as she turned towards the entrance of the restaurant.

"Still, I'm going to have a very…serious conversation with him." Riley gave Katie a wink.

Katie laughed, but she still felt her heart breaking a little bit. She sighed, tightening her grip around the bracelet in her hand.

* * *

Katie glumly rested her chin in her hand as she watched Kendall and his friends run back and forth across the beach, playing what looked like a mixture of soccer and football together. They obviously didn't care about getting sand everywhere or being out on the beach in a bathing suit where everyone could see them. Not even the photographers that were feet away were impairing them and their fun. But here Katie was, sitting on a beach blanket, trying to keep attention off of herself, and watching the four boys run back and forth across the sand for many reasons—one being that they were the only entertaining thing to look at, the other being that they were guys. _Being a teenage girl in LA was hard enough when we got here. Why can't things ever be easy for me?_

Katie wasn't made of stone, she didn't look at comic books anymore, and she was well aware of the fact that she was a girl, thanks to her monthly present. But growing up, she had never really considered the other three guys that she looked up to like extra brothers to be attractive. Now she was annoying herself with finding a good looking guy almost everywhere she went. What made it worse was the fact that she was too shy to say anything to any of them that could have potentially been interested in her. Not that she even really _wanted _them to be…

She had a boyfriend she liked a lot, and who had been close to kissing her and it had been interrupted. It happened only a couple of days before and she was still upset about it.

Katie sighed, running her hands over her face.

It was all too confusing.

Carlos was attractive in his own quirky way, you knew that he would do anything he could to make someone smile and laugh. He was so sweet that even if he was a bit overzealous with whatever it is he wanted to do for someone, it was all done with the best intentions at heart. Going to the gym with James now was doing wonders for his physique. Logan was attractive in a book smart way, normally Katie would find his smarts to be a turn off, it was something that really managed to bother her when she was growing up, and following the boys around, but she could see what the appeal was to other girls. Being intellectual and having some sense of maturity was something that any girl could want. And everyone knew James was the pinnacle of manliness among the guys.

He was the one that was the most outwardly appealing and Katie, embarrassingly enough, had found herself falling for him when she was younger, which was something that he, also embarrassingly enough, seemed to pick up on and tease her mercilessly about. She was glad that Kendall never caught on or else he would blow a fuse. She had only seen him lose his cool once and she didn't want to see it again.

Katie brushed some sand off of her leg and glumly watched as the guys continued to play their game. Beside her, her mother was sitting in her beach chair, a pair of sunglasses on her face, a book in her hands, and armed with a sunscreen bottle to have the guys reapply whenever the hour came up.

"Hey Katie, are you sure you don't want to play?" Kendall asked as he clumsily trapped the ball with his foot. He placed his hands on his hips, using a hand to shield his face from the sun, as he and the other guys turned towards her. "We aren't going to hurt you or anything."

"You said that the last time that you talked me into playing football with you guys," Katie reminded him, a cold edge t her tone. "After you _promised _that you weren't playing tackle football."

"I _tripped_!" Carlos threw his hands into the air in exasperation. It was a conversation that they had many times, usually whenever they tried to rope her into helping them with something. "I _said _I was sorry," he added in a kid voice, pouting slightly.

"And I had a black eye for three weeks," Katie shot back. She stubbornly shook her head. "It's not happening."

"Katie, why don't you play?" Mrs. Knight suggested, lowering her romance novel and turning to look at her daughter. "You haven't done anything but sulk on the beach since we got here." Katie let out a loud sigh, getting ready to remind her that she never wanted to go to the beach and that she would have had more fun staying back at the crib, but she knew it was useless. The day to go to the beach had been planned even before the Jacksons had gotten home, giving them time to catch up on their sleep, and some time for the boys, Katie, and Mrs. Knight to bond. They had the same conversation the whole way to the beach and it took everything in Mrs. Knight's power not to lose her cool and start shouting at her daughter. Katie could even see the tension moving back into her mother's face again and knew not to even try.

"Because I don't want to catch the stupids," Katie said with a sneer. "Every time these guys play a game and some girl walks by, it doesn't even matter what she's wearing doing, or if she's with a boyfriend, they all start pushing and shoving each other to try and look better to her." Katie threw her hands in the air. "And they all have girlfriends!"

"That's just being a guy, Katie," Mrs. Knight pointed out with a fond smile. "They're always trying to impress someone."

"No, that's just being stupid!" Katie huffed and got to her feet, brushing off more sand. _I hate sand! It gets everywhere! _She scowled at the sand that had managed to take up most of her towel. "They're always getting in the way."

"Katie, they already apologized," Mrs. Knight reminded her.

"Yeah, only because Riley practically forced them too," Katie point out. She did laugh a little though. Riley had kept her word and when the group had started to walk to their cars, Riley and Kendall had gotten into a slight argument about the boys intruding on Katie's private moment. She couldn't hear the exact conversation, but she could see it as a heated one as they were both glaring at each other, waving their hands, and sneering every now and then. Finally, Kendall said something that caused Riley to calm down, though she still looked a little suspicious, and Kendall had given her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to smile but still give him a warning look. Then when they had arrived at the crib, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James had all apologized.

She had forgiven them, but was still a little stung by it.

Katie got to her feet, brushing more sand off her legs. "I'm going to get something to drink!"

"Ooh, can you get something for me?" Carlos eagerly moved over to Katie's side. He stuck out his tongue and made a show of gasping for air. "I'm dying of thirst." Pulling his tongue back into his mouth, he thought for a moment. "Could you, pretty please, get me lemonade?"

"I'll just have water," Logan chimed in.

"Could you bring me a Gatorade?" James flashed her pearly whites in a smile.

Katie's scowl deepened. She opened her mouth to tell them where they could shove their drinks and Kendall, seeming to notice her distress, quickly jumped in to defend her. "Don't worry about it, Katie; we'll get something to drink later." He turned and gave the other three guys a sharp look and they all looked away from him, knowing how protective he was of Katie and how she was treated by other people.

"Thanks Big Brother." Katie beamed at him before sticking her tongue out at James, Logan, and Carlos. "I'll bring you back an ice cream or something." Katie took the money that her mother handed her and started to walk up the beach towards the food shack that was set up down the beach. As she walked, she looked around at the people that were all over the beach. Young and old frolicked with each other, laughing, talking, flying kites, making sandcastles, splashing in the water, dined in the restaurants that lined the beach and shopped in the many surf shops that were around. They all seemed to be having a good time, so why wasn't she?

She had to be the only person in California that didn't like to go to the beach.

"Heyyy, Katie!"

Katie turned around to see Victoria walking over to her, talking long, slow strides as she went, swinging her hips back and forth. Katie gave a half smile and a nod as she waited for the girl to reach her side. She was keeping her guard up; she never knew if Victoria was really, honestly, being friendly to you, or if she was waiting to shove you down a flight of stairs and laugh at your expense.

"Hey Victoria," Katie said, falling into step with the other girl. "What's up?"

"Not much, just planning a party," Victoria replied with a coy smile. "That's why me and the girls are here today. We figured that we could get some good party ideas and scope out some cute boys at the same time." She elbowed Katie on the arm as she winked at her. "Like those four hotties up the beach."

Katie's nose immediately wrinkled in disgust. "Ugh, my brother and his friends?" She mimed puking. "I don't even get why their _fans _think they're so good looking. _Or _their girlfriends for that matter. They're just so…_them_." Her cheeks immediately inflamed, realizing how much of a hypocrite she was.

"But they're hot," Victoria insisted. "Especially the tall one."

"James?" Katie tried not to reveal anything in her voice as she casually asked about him.

She sighed, knowing how she had a tiny bit of feelings leftover for 'the face' of the band. She didn't know any girl that didn't have feelings for him to some degree.

"Definitely," Victoria agreed with a dreamy sigh, pushing her hair out of her face. "He's always been my favorite." She pressed her hands together, tapping her fingers to her chin. "Do you think that you could introduce me?"

"I _could_ but I doubt that he'd see you as anything other than any of his other fans," Katie said. She immediately cringed as the words came out of her mouth. She didn't have to look at Victoria to know that she had just insulted her, somehow. "I mean, with the guys and their younger fans, around our age, they have to be really careful. Gustavo tries really hard to make sure that they don't have a hoard of parents running after them in outrage." She shrugged. "That's why they can't kiss their fans on the cheek or anything unless they're the _Worldwide_ girl."

"Don't worry, I can work my way around it," Victoria said mysteriously. Katie stayed silent. They got up to the line and waited for the people in front of them to be served. Katie glanced at Victoria out of the corner of her eye, taking in her attire. A white, strapless bikini that popped against her blonde hair and her tan skin. Of course she would look good in a bathing suit. _Everyone _in LA looked good in a bathing suit except her. Katie suddenly hated the beach even more. "And…if things work out, maybe I'll invite you to my party too. It's gonna be a blowout, my Dad is letting us have it at Tatou. Alcohol free of course." Victoria crossed her arms over her chest. "_Everyone_ is going. Invite Big Time Rush for me, if you can convince them to go, then you're on the guest list for sure."

Katie chewed her lower lip. She wished that she could tell herself that she didn't want to go to Victoria's party…but she'd be kidding herself.

Victoria's parties were legendary for being the conversation topic of the year. And this was going to be her New Year's Party, the holiday that was already well known for being party central but now that Victoria was having a blowout that night, it was something that she couldn't miss.

Katie was above being a suck up, but she wasn't above going to a good party. And…she really wanted to fit in, in LA. _We've been here for two years and I still don't feel like I belong here._

"I think I can work something out," Katie replied finally.

"Awesome!" Victoria cheered. She reached over and loosely draped her arms around Katie's shoulders, giving her a hug. "That'll make my party even more awesome! Call me later so you can get all of the details of the party, alright." She winked at Katie. "I have a special surprise for the night and I think that it'll be really fun." Giving a finger waver, Victoria turned on her heel and headed back up the beach, turning heads as she went.

Katie rolled her eyes up to the sky as she turned back to the shack. _What'd I just get myself into? _Katie stepped up to the shack and placed her order, getting drinks for everyone. She juggled everything in her arms and slowly turned around to start walking back to her mother, brother, and friends. As she went, she tried to figure out how she would convince the guys to go to the party. _It shouldn't be too hard. Carlos and James are the ones that want to try and take over Hollywood party by party. Kendall would probably go…Logan would be harder to convince. He's so socially awkward when it comes to things like this._

Katie was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the guy with a surfboard tucked under his arm walk in front of her until she stopped short, letting out a cry of surprise. Hearing the noise, the guy instinctively turned and accidentally whacked Katie in the side with the surfboard, causing her to let out a yelp and drop everything to the ground.

"Ooh, glad I didn't catch you with the fin, or else I'd need to rush you to the hospital and god knows I wouldn't be able to go inside." Katie looked up and smiled at Patrick. He turned and shoved the front of his surfboard into the sand before crouching down and starting to pick up Katie's dropped drinks. "I'm sorry, Katie. I didn't see you."

"It's alright, really," Katie said. She dropped to her knees and started to pick up the other drinks that were out of his reach. "I wasn't even paying attention, thinking about too much stuff, I guess."

"Glad I don't have that problem," Patrick joked. He stood up, balancing the drinks in his hands. "I don't think enough to worry about it." Katie laughed loudly, causing him to give his famous lopsided smile. In a flourish, he rolled a can of lemonade from his hand and down his arm. He popped it up off of his bicep and caught it in his hand. "Your drink, milady." Katie laughed again, taking it from his hand. "So what are you doing here? You hate the beach."

"I know, but I got outvoted," Katie said. She rolled her eyes lightly. "Story of my life." She looked up when she heard the call of a seagull and watched as it glided overhead, turning as it headed out towards the sea. She sucked in a deep breath of the salty, sea air, listening as the waves crashed onto the sand. She liked the sound of the beach but didn't like the feel of it.

"I know the feeling," Patrick sympathized. He picked up his surfboard and carefully turned around so that he didn't her him again. "I typically get outvoted when it comes to the kind of desert that we have when we're out of ice cream." He bobbed his head. "And that's not the fight that brings out the most bloodshed, that's when we try to figure out which movie to watch on the weekends." He held out an arm and Katie continued walking back to the others.

"You should watch a horror film then, the blood would be symbolic," Katie teased. Her smile widened when Patrick laughed. Good, things seemed to still be going good between them, despite their near kiss being ruined. He didn't appear upset anyway. "Hey, um, have you heard of a place called Tatou?" Katie asked, turning to look at Patrick. He quickly turned away from her, using his free hand to scratch the back of his neck. "It's a nightclub or something like that. I've never heard of it."

"That's because Tatou is, like, _the_ nightclub in LA." Patrick raised an eyebrow as he turned to her. "All of the biggest celebrities out there have gone at least one in their lives. And the place is fancy, and I mean, _fancy. _You have to dress up just to go in because there's a specific dress code that you need to follow or you'll be kicked out." He ran a hand through his spiked hair. "Cool dance floor, somewhat superior waiters, it's a pretty cool place." An eyebrow rose. "Why?"

"Because there's this girl at the Palm Woods School…her father rented the place out for a New Year's party and she invited me," Katie replied.

"I thought you didn't like anyone at the Palm Woods School," Patrick commented. "I mean…" he reached up and grabbed onto the lightning bolt necklace that was around his neck."You seem to complain about it enough."

"I complain about the _guys_ that are there," Katie corrected him. Her upper lip curled at the thought of having to go back when the weekend was over. "They don't leave me alone."

"Get used to it, babe, that's what happens when you have a siblings in the industry." Patrick gave a careless shrug, dropping his necklace. It slapped against his chest. "You get more attention on you because they're famous." He shrugged.

Katie tried not to blush at the pet name. A part of her knew the endearing term was just for her, but…he was a flirt and there were girls that threw themselves at him all the time, which only added to her insecurities. Patrick liked girls and he liked to flirt, though he chalked it up to being nice. He referred to all his close female friends as "babe" or "sweetie" or "sweetheart" and every once in a while he would utter the word "honey" though he said it wasn't his favorite, as it sounded like he was married to the person.

Half the time she wasn't sure if he even noticed that he did it, most things came out of his mouth without a second thought.

…he always seemed to have a special look in his eye whenever he said one of the endearing pet names. The only way that she would make herself feel worse about it was when she would get too caught up in wondering why James never called her that, though the two were pretty close. If Kendall weren't her older brother, she was sure that James would be it; he was as protective as Kendall was, but it seemed to be more than a brotherly way.

At least she, kind of, hoped so.

Katie reached out a hand and shoved Patrick on the arm, not budging him in the slightest. That bothered her the most about knowing him, she met him when he was fourteen and now, almost eighteen, he towered over her and showed that he was stronger than her any chance he got.

Katie and Patrick walked back over the others and Katie passed out the drinks to everyone, who was now sitting on their towels listening to music, talking, reading a magazine, or looking through their phones. Kendall was the first one to notice them. "There you are, I was wondering where you got to."

"I got hit by an idiot with a surfboard." Katie rolled her eyes.

Patrick gave a short wave with his hand. "Guilty as charged."

"Hey!" Carlos's eyes lit up at the sight of their friend. He turned to Katie and took his drink before reverting his attention to Patrick. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" James, Kendall, and Logan all looked at him and even Patrick lowered his left eyebrow and raised his right one at the stupid question. "Oh!" His eyes darted over to the surfboard tucked under his arm. "Right."

"Yeah," Patrick said slowly. He smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, we took the day off to get some rest but I snuck out." He reached into his trunks pocket and pulled out his cell phone, which was in a plastic sandwich baggie. "Hence the reason why my phone is off. But the waves were beauty and I couldn't miss it."

"I know, they're really rad today," James agreed. He shook his head. "I heard too late, didn't get a chance to bring my board."

"You can borrow mine, Dude," Patrick held the short board out for the older boy to take. "I have to jet soon anyway." He turned back to Katie. "By the way, is the party on New Year's Eve on New Year's Day or is it, like, around that time?"

"Why?" Katie looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Her lips curled. "I didn't invite you."

Patrick shrugged carelessly. "Eh, more hope than thought." He kicked at the sand, wincing when it landed on Mrs. Knight. He gave her a sheepish smile when she turned to look at him, missing Katie's blush. "Sorry, Mama Knight."

"It's ok," She replied, brushing herself off. "What's this about a New Year's Party?" She looked at Katie curiously. "Do I know who's throwing it?"

"A girl in my class at the Palm Woods School," Katie replied vaguely. "Her dad rented the place out and she invited, like, everyone." She started to dig her toe into the sand. "I was hoping that I could go."

"I don't know," Mrs. Knight hesitated.

She knew how rowdy Hollywood parties could get. When she heard about the ones that the boys threw in 2J while she and Katie were gone in San Diego, she had grounded them when they got back. She ignored all of James's protests, saying it was a 'right of passage' and they were 'just getting it out of their system' and didn't budge on the idea. Because of that, Katie had a bit of a tight rein put on her when it came to where she was going and who she was hanging out with, just so she knew that she wasn't getting in trouble.

"You know how I feel about this kind of thing. I'd like to meet her parents first and-"

"Hey guys." Katie gave a sweet smile, turning to the older boys. "How would you like to go to a new year's party?" She widened her eyes in a pleading look. "It's at this place called Tatou and it's going to be really fun and-"

"Tatou?!" James immediately came to life.

"What's Tatou?" Logan exchanged confused glances while James and Carlos started to slap each other on the arms in their excitement.

"I can regain my status as the Hollywood Super Party King of Hollywood!" Carlos cheered, punching the air. At Mrs. Knight's glare, he chuckled and lowered his arms. "I mean, I'll be the perfect guest. The complete perfect gentleman." He reached out and pulled Katie down onto his lap, giving her a tight hug. "We'll watch Katie like a hawk," he promised.

"_And _call me every hour so I know that things are going ok?" Katie nodded like a bobble head at Mrs. Knight's question. When Mrs. Knight fell silent, Katie stuck out her lower lip, forcing it to tremble as she still looked at her mother. _A little more. _Katie could see Mrs. Knight's face soften. "Ok, but you all have to be back by one at the latest."

"Oh, but we usually get breakfast after a New Year's Party, Mama Knight," Patrick spoke up. "Like, at The Nickle Diner, Blu Jam, or Waffle or something like that." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And then, typically, we find one house to sleep at and everyone crashes there." He looked at Katie out of the corner of his eye. "That's the sort of thing that we do back in OZ, too. I'm sure Ronan won't mind if everyone crashes at our place."

"Sounds good to me, Mom," Kendall added.

"Just as long as Ronan's ok with it," Mrs. Knight said.

"He will be, I promise," Patrick said quickly.

"Then, fine, just remind me when the night gets closer, that way I can figure out everything that's going to go on and so I don't have to continuously try to find someone," Mrs. Knight warned. "And I mean it. If something goes wrong, then you're all going to be grounded until you're thirty."

"Thanks Mom!" Katie grinned. She turned to Patrick and mouthed 'thank you' to him.

Patrick winked in reply before throwing up the peace sign, told James he could give the surfboard back later, and left the beach. Suddenly feeling warm, Katie picked up her own can of lemonade and opened it, taking down a large gulp. She didn't want to look at the boys, knowing the way that they were all staring at her. Risking a glance at her mother, she could see the smirk that was making its way onto her face.

Katie kept her gaze down in her lap.

"Why's your face so red, Katie?" James asked. She could hear the smile in his voice without having to look at him. "Are you sunburned?"

"Shut up!" Katie snapped.

* * *

**A/N: **Aww, Katie had her first kiss moment ruined. I'm sure it's happened to many girls so I knew I had to have it thrown in here somewhere.

So I needed the first four (technically three if you don't count the prologue) being all from Katie's POV. But the rest of the chapters will have Patrick's, Lizzie's, and Noah's POVs as well. So far, what I find the most interesting while writing this is seeing the older teenagers' relationships with each other from a set character's POV as opposed to it being omniscient third. It's just so cool in a weird way to me.

Hmm, I got an idea for a NoahxLizzie story. Don't know if I'll put it here in misc. or on fictionpress, just because it would focus more on the OCs rather than the canon BTR characters.

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. Pressure

**.:Chapter 04:.**

* * *

"Dak, I'm going over to the Palm Woods!" Lizzie called as she walked out of her room and started down the spiral staircase, her footsteps echoing down the marble as she went.

Along the way she passed cardboard boxes filled to the brimming with different odds and ends, getting ready to be shipped out to their new apartment that she, her brother, and WayneWayne Dooley shared. Actually she reminded herself, they were really renting it from Ronan while they waited for his lease to run out, but it was still theirs, technically. At least, it was after Dak had emancipated himself from his parents, asked WayneWayne to move in with him, as he had been a bit desperate to move out of his parents' place, and brought Lizzie along with him. Dak said he was going to miss her while he was gone, but Lizzie was sure it was so he could keep an even tighter rein on her as he already did. But it was cool, she didn't really have anyone to answer to and she was able to do whatever she wanted for the most part.

Hearing the sound of popcorn popping in the kitchen as she stopped on the bottom floor, and walked into the kitchen. She smiled when she spotted her brother leaning against the counter, his arms placed to the outside of Rhuben's body and leaning into kiss her as she held a bowl of popcorn on her lap. Lizzie cleared her throat and Dak looked over at his sister before backing away from her.

"Hey Lil Bit," Rhuben greeted her, pulling her hair out of her face, her blue-violet eyes bright. "What's up?"

"I was going to ask Dak that question," Lizzie replied with a teasing smile, adding as much emphasis on her brother's name as she could. She giggled, seeing Dak's cheeks redden a little and he ran a hand through his hair. "I _said_ I was going to the Palm Woods to hang out with Katie. She just called me over, we're gonna hang out at the pool or something."

"Do you have something to-"

"Yes," Lizzie interrupted Dak. "I have something to cover myself up in case I get cold. And I have my phone and wallet and the extra car key in case I get locked out." She ticked the three items off her fingers then innocently tapped her chin. "Am I forgetting anything?"

"Just don't do something I wouldn't do," Dak warned.

"Then that means that she can't have any fun at all, yeah?" Rhuben winked over at Lizzie, who laughed at the scowl on her brother's face, though she could see, from the twitching of his lips that he was trying not to laugh as well. "By the way, while you're there, tell Logie that I have his notes, I'll see Kendall tomorrow at his rehearsal, and that I have some stuff for Katie." She slapped Dak's hand away as he reached for the popcorn bowl, the kitchen echoed with the sound. Dak quickly pulled his reddening hand back and rubbed it as he shot his sister an amused look. Everyone knew that you never got between Jacksons—or Carlos for that matter—when there was food present. And you _never_ made the mistake of eating their food. "And Riles has some stuff for you too."

"New clothes?!" Lizzie's eyes lit up. "Sweetness! I'll just get them from her next time." She turned back to Dak and wiggled her fingers. "Keys?"

"Fine." Dak reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out a set of car keys, holding them out to his sister. Lizzie took a step forward to take them, but Dak quickly pulled them out of her reach. "Be careful, Lizard, and if I get a call that you got a ticket, you can't use it anymore."

"Fine," Lizzie repeated her brother. She pouted, taking the keys away from him. "It sucks now that we're emancipated, Mom and Dad can't buy me that car like they promised." Lizzie then shrugged and turned on her shoulder, giving a finger wave. "Bye, you two."

"See ya."

"Later."

Lizzie hitched her purse up over her shoulder and walked out of the house. She carefully went down the flagstone steps, holding up the bottom of her pink sundress—something she had inherited from Riley—and walked over to her brother's truck. Using the remote to unlock the door, she opened the driver's side door and climbed inside, throwing her purse onto the passenger seat and closing the door behind her. She made sure to adjust the mirrors and the seat height before turning on the car and wrinkling her nose, the sounds of _Less Than Jake_ hitting her ears. She popped out the CD and replaced it with her _Britney Spears_ one before taking off the parking brake and pulling out of the driveway, directing herself towards the Palm Woods.

Humming along with the song, Lizzie thought about the Palm Woods and everything in LA. She had lived there almost as long as she could remember, knowing there had been a time they had lived in Wisconsin before, but that seemed so long ago. Back then she and Dak had been going to school like normal people, she wanted to be a teacher and Dak had wanted to be a doctor. Soon, after Dak got a starring role in a school play, their parents got the fame bug and they shipped them all out to Los Angeles and they started their careers as being Casting Agents. They had been so busy she hardly remembered a time they were home for a week at a time, rather than their nannies constantly taking care of them. Not that it was a big loss to Lizzie, she had gone to a normal school in LA for a while; but got bit by the dancing bug—or jitterbug if that—after Rhuben (and her brothers and sister) had come to her school to teach a class on different parts of the music industry. Rhuben had talked about dancing and taught the class a quick choreographed routine and she had been hooked ever since.

Soon she was following in her brothers' footsteps in the industry, though only going for dancing roles whenever needed, he had even given her parts as a background dancer in Varsity Vampires 1 before she started to book her own roles and moved to take classes at a performing arts school. And she lived it, despite how mean some of the other girls could be. She had always been the friendly one, outgoing and not afraid to make friends, but soon found it difficult to make real friends in the dancing community as they were always trying to beat each other out of the biggest parts—it probably didn't help that their mothers were living vicariously through them. It was the one thing that Lizzie was glad about her mother being gone so much, though she was lonely at times. Not that she didn't love to hang out with her brother but she wanted a friend her own age.

And that was where Katie came in. Lizzie had been moping around the house, depressed because, at first, Dak—and Gustavo—wouldn't let her go to the studio to meet the boys of Big Time Rush when Dak was meeting them before agreeing to end his contract with Rocque Records to help them. She complained about not having anything to do or anyone to hang out with when Dak told her that he had gotten to know the boys a little and found out that Kendall had a little sister around Katie's age. Lizzie had jumped to her feet and hugged her brother, begging to be able to go with him the next time he went to Rocque Records to meet her. Dak had agreed and when that day arrived, she was bouncing with excitement the whole way there. Once they arrived at Rocque Records and Dak introduced them, Lizzie stuck her hand out towards Katie and said, "I'm Lizzie Zevon. It's nice to meet you!"

And since then, she and Katie had been best friends. It was a bit strange to her, at first, because they were total opposites. Lizzie was even a bit disappointed that Katie didn't like to shop as much as she did—though she was warming up to it now—and didn't particularly like to dress up as much—she reasoned it was a Midwestern thing—but was glad to find that they did have a lot of common interests, such as movies, music, books, TV shows, and what celebrities they thought were good looking—she liked to tease her about Dak. So what if they didn't have common activities that they liked to participate in? It was everything else that counted. At first, Lizzie tried to impress her with everything she could buy, not understanding why Katie didn't seem so thrilled. But Katie had been the one to show her that she was throwing her money around because she could, because she wanted Katie to like her, and because she was, in a way, getting back at the lack of attention her parents were giving her.

And in return, Lizzie helped Katie become ore girly, something that she wanted, but wasn't sure how to do, after being so much of a tomboy for so long. They were always there for each other and had even made plans to move out and get an apartment in New York where Katie would go to college while Lizzie would work her way through Broadway.

_It's the perfect plan, _Lizzie thought to herself with a bright smile. _That way we'll be together and our brothers won't have to worry so much. _She rolled her eyes. _Though they'd probably follow us there, too. Just to make sure we weren't doing anything wrong. _Of course the girls would have Patrick and Noah over whenever they were in town, having and apartment by themselves would be a lot better if their boyfriends were there. Lizzie made a mental note to return Noah's call from earlier that day as she pulled into the Palm Woods parking lot, carefully pulling into the space so that she wouldn't scratch the bumper of the car—again. Lizzie jumped out of the truck and slammed the door shut, locking the door behind her before walking inside and making her way up to the crib. Opening the door, she spotted Logan and Camille sitting at the table, pouring over books, otherwise, the rest of the apartment was empty.

"Hi," Lizzie greeted the two, walking over to them.

"Hey Lizzie," Camille returned with a bright smile, her lips stretching out, pulling her mole to the side. "How are you, today? What are you up to?"

"Not much and I'm here to hang out with Katie," Lizzie replied. She placed her hands on her hips and looked around the apartment. "Where is everyone? It's a lot quieter than usual around here."

"Kendall and Carlos are with Patrick, Noah, Sydney, and Stephanie,"—Logan finally tore his eyes away from the textbook he was looking at. He gave her a friendly smile. "They're at some sort of comedy convention at the mall. James and Jo are with Riley; Jo said she'd help Riley clean out the costume closet and James said something about an audition coming up soon. I think Mama Knight is at the gym and,"-he waved his arms, motioning to their books—"I'm getting some homework done."

"Oh." Lizzie blinked as she leaned forward, looking over the books. "You're taking college classes already?"

"Not exactly," Logan admitted. "I'm taking one or two classes online, math and science, so I can get ahead while I decide what school I want to go to. I still have some time before the applications are due and Riles, Rhubes, and I are going to apply at the same time." He smiled and nodded.

Lizzie then turned to Camille. She didn't know her that well, but knew that she was getting more acting jobs as the days went on. Some of them were still smaller parts, but she did get an almost starring role in that one summer-rock-camp movie that she loved so much. "What about you, Camille?"

"I was thinking of taking some classes." She shrugged. "But with my acting career starting to take off, I don't know if I'll have the time."

"I'm sure whatever you do you'll rock it," Lizzie said kindly.

"I've been saying that all along," Logan added.

"Thanks, Lizzie." Camille smiled at the younger teenage girl before turning a bright smile to her boyfriend. "And thank _you_, sweetie." She leaned forward and gave him a juicy kiss on the cheek, pressing her red painted lips against his, holding her hand under his chin.

Lizzie smiled and laughed as Logan's face turned red and he rapidly pushed back his chair and stood up. "I'll go tell Katie you're here," he offered and disappeared behind the wall that blocked off the bedrooms from the main sitting area. In the silence that stretched between the two girls, they could hear his and Katie's conversation.

"Hey, Katie, Lizzie's here for you," Logan said.

"Cool, just send her back here." Katie replied. She then paused for a second. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for teasing you at the beach. We didn't mean to embarrass you or anything. We were just having some fun."

_What happened at the beach? _Lizzie casually tucked her hair behind her ear, trying not to be obvious that she was eavesdropping. Glancing over at Camille, she could see the brunette was doing the same thing, having slightly shifted in her seat to angle herself more towards the hallway.

"You didn't embarrass me. It's going to take more than you guys to make me embarrassed." Katie's voice held a tone of indignation. "Actually, you've managed to single-handedly embarrass me to death since you all got here, so at this point I'd say that I'm used to it."

"Well, it's not just that. We couldn't help but notice that you're not the same kid that we came to LA with and-"

"Stop!" There was a slapping sound, as if Katie had slapped her hands over her ears. "I know you're trying to be a good friend and a good big brother or whatever, but, seriously! You didn't embarrass me. I don't embarrass easily. You all are just a bunch of idiots, as usual." Katie then laughed a little, to ease the tension. "Now, _please_, don't ever bring it up again, Logan. I'm your sister and you're one of my brothers, it's what we're supposed to do. Just bring Lizzie in here!"

"Ok. Ok." Lizzie straightened herself, pretending to have been looking at a book as Logan walked back over to her. "She's waiting for you."

"Thanks!" Lizzie pulled her purse up her shoulder and walked into the room Katie shared with her mother. Katie's side of the room was a bit messier, with framed pictures resting on her dresser, shoes sitting in a neat row by her bed, and small cases of makeup adorning different surfaces along with stacks of paper and headphones. Mrs. Knight's side of the room was very neat, everything in its place and straightened as a tell-tale sign of anything being moved.

"Hey! Hey!" Lizzie greeted, walked into the room and dropping her purse onto Katie's bed. "What's up?"

"I think the guys have traumatized me for the rest of my life," Katie mumbled, her face illuminated by the glow of her laptop screen. Her chin rested in her hand, her arm shaking as her jaws moved up and down when she spoke. Her body exuded boredom, from the tips of her toes to her half-lidded eyes. She closed her laptop and pushed it away from her, making space for Lizzie to sit down on the bed.

Lizzie gave a confused giggle. "What?" she asked.

"Don't ask," Katie suggested. "I'd rather not have to relive it." She swung her legs to the floor and stood up, making it painfully obvious how much shorter she was than Lizzie. Lizzie tilted her chin down to look her friend in the eyes. "Listen, I have some cool news!" She stepped around Lizzie, closed her bedroom door, and then hopped onto her bed. "Ok. There's this girl at the Palm Woods School—"

"Oh that Victoria chick right?" Lizzie asked, cutting Katie off. She moved over to Katie's closet and started to look through the clothes that were on the hangars. A lot of purples, yellows, whites, and bright blues. Most of them were t-shirts and shorts. _I thought I taught her better than this. _Lizzie shook her head and shot Katie a disapproving glance over her shoulder, causing Katie to shrug and roll her eyes. "I thought you didn't like her."

"I don't," Katie replied, wrinkling her nose. "Not really. I don't know, it's really weird. She can be mean at times, but she can be nice too." She shook her head. "Anyway, she invited me to her party, the guys are going too, and I'm sure they're going to bring their friends, so I'm sure that the girls and the Jacksons are going, and you can come too!"

"No way!" Lizzie cheered, turning away from the closet. Her green eyes were wide, shinning with excitement. "Oh, that's so perfect! New Years parties are, like, the social event of the year!" She unceremoniously flung herself down onto Katie's bed, her blonde tresses fanning our around her like a halo. "People talk about it for _weeks _after the party is over." She placed a finger to her lip before smiling mischievously. "And of who kissed who…"

"What?" Katie blinked.

Lizzie pushed herself up into a sitting position, flipping her hair back behind her. She lowered her voice. "_Everyone _knows that people kiss at midnight on New Years," Lizzie continued. "So we just have to find ourselves someone to kiss," Lizzie continued. She was now looking at Katie with a sly smile. "I mean, Noah and I are already covered." She pretended to think before reaching out and gently nudging Katie on the arm. "And you and Patrick…"

Katie snorted. "Right. Like that's going to happen!"

"Ok, then you can kiss James." Lizzie shrugged carelessly before placing a hand on her chest. "Trust me, if I got the chance, I'd _love_ to be able to kiss him."

"Every girl we know would love to," Katie pointed out a second before her face steadily started to turn red.

"Oooh, you're thinking about it!" Lizzie squealed before jumping onto Katie. Katie laughed and pushed her away, Lizzie sat back, arranging herself in the Indian position, resting her hands in her lap. "Your face is, like, turning red!" Katie scowled and shoved Lizzie on the shoulder. "Ouch!" Lizzie brought her hand up to her shoulder and started to massage the spot. _I forget she's so strong sometimes. _"I'm just teasing you. You and Patrick will kiss at the party; now you just need to plan it."

"Who plans these things?" Katie threw her hands into the air. "Isn't it better just to let it happen?"

"Not if you want nothing to happen," Lizzie pointed out. She looked at Katie with a disappointed stare, lightly shaking her head. _What am I going to do with her?_ She studied Katie for a long moment. _She seems to be really against this whole kissing thing. Wait…_Lizzie's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands.

"What?" Katie asked wearily. Lizzie tried to catch her eye, but Katie continued to skillfully miss it.

Lizzie slowly lowered her hands. "You haven't had your first kiss, have you?" Lizzie didn't give her a chance to reply. "Oh, I knew it! You haven't had your first kiss. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that. It's all right if you haven't. It's totally cool even. That just means that we have to be sure that it'll be perfect at the party."

"Lizz, I don't-"

"I have to go," Lizzie interrupted. "I only stopped by so I could tell you that you could sleep over at my place this weekend. If you wanted to keep your mind off of James or Patrick for a while, you can just think about my brother."

Katie let out a cry of outrage, although she was laughing, and grabbed her pillow, whacking Lizzie with it. "Get out of here!" She pushed her hair behind her shoulders. "I'll just see you later." She paused. "Maybe we can go dress shopping for the party."

Lizzie looked at Katie in disbelief. This was the girl that would rather play video games and play sports and hang out with her brothers while they were doing something stupid than set foot in any clothing store. Lizzie rushed forward, letting out another squeal, and grabbed Katie in a bear hug. "Oh, you're finally starting to think like a girl, I knew that it'd happen someday."

"Yeah yeah, get off." Katie pushed Lizzie off of her and straightened her clothes. "I hate it when you do that."

"Oh you know you love it." Lizzie picked up her discarded purse and slung it over her shoulder. "I'll see you later." She waved to Katie before leaving the room. She waved to Logan and Camille, who paid no attention to her as they were too busy making out, and walked out of the apartment. A few seconds later, she stopped and turned back to the apartment, walking back inside and back into Katie's room. Katie looked up at Lizzie in confusion, already back on her computer. "Uh, you invited _me _over," she reminded her. "I thought we were going to the pool?"

Katie looked startled for a moment and the two girls started laughing as Lizzie moved back onto the bed and leaned in to see what was playing on the computer screen.

* * *

Katie sighed as she walked into the Palm Woods classroom the next day. _Another day of classes that I wish I didn't have._ She dropped her backpack to the ground and got ready to sit down in her seat but stopped when she noticed something on her desk. Giggles reached her ears.

She didn't have to look to know who it was coming from.

Katie swallowed thickly as she looked at the words that were written on her desk: _Ugly._

She stared at the word for a few moments before she grabbed her backpack and opened it. She upended it, putting everything inside on top of the words so she didn't have to see it anymore. _I can probably clean it off later. It's no big deal. _Katie rested her arms on the stack of books and kept her eyes forward, willing herself not to look over at Victoria. _This girl has more mood swings than a schizophrenic. _Miss. Collins came into the room and started the lesson. Most the school day went by without any other problems. It wasn't until math class that it started up again.

Katie lifted her gaze from her math textbook when a folded up piece of paper landed on her lap. She let go of the book, balancing it against her desk, and picked it up. Unfolding it, she rolled her eyes after she quickly scanned over the page. Just another stupid love note from one of the guys in her class. She knew whenever someone was trying to use hr for her brother; she wasn't going to fall for it again.

Katie moved to rip it into tiny pieces, but Victoria reached over and grabbed the paper from her hand. She looked it over and giggled to herself before leaning over and handing it to her friends. The giggling increased as the paper was passed around. Katie looked over at Miss. Collins, to see if she was listening to what was going on. But she was busy teaching the class at the front of the room, the rest of the students seemed even less interested than she was in the class.

Katie reached over and knocked Victoria's arm. "Give it back!" She whispered.

Behind Victoria, Cara's eyes narrowed in a glare. She moved as if she was about to launch herself out of her seat, but Victoria held up a hand. She looked at Katie with a frozen expression on her face; Katie wasn't sure what the expression was. It seemed calm, almost pleasant, but at the same time, Katie could see the look of contempt in her eyes. For the first time, Katie felt insecure sitting next to Victoria. It wasn't that she was jealous the girl was more beautiful and was a talented singer, she didn't care about that. She just had a feeling there was something about Victoria a lot of people didn't see. She could feel it.

Katie slowly turned away from Victoria and tried to focus on the lesson. But Victoria still stared at her, she could feel it. Victoria finally turned her gaze away from Katie, looking over at Tiffany. Her expression then turned into a sinister smile. She made a show of dropping the letter to the ground and stomping on it, grinding it to pieces with her shoe. Tiffany, Cara, and Kristy all giggled quietly, whispering to each other.

Victoria's smirk-smile now was a satisfied smirk.

_I need to get out of here. _Katie drummed her fingers on her desk.

Katie let out a sigh of relief when Miss. Collins dismissed class. She had never been so glad that being schooled there she only had to go for a couple of hours. With all age-groups in the class, they had one cohesive lesson that was taught, and then Miss. Collins split the class up, depending on age and class placement, and instructed each of them on their grave level of work for the subject.

Katie started to gather her things together, smiling for the first time all day. _Freedom!_

"So we were planning on going to the mall this weekend." Tiffany moved over to Katie's desk, standing around it with Cara, Margot, and Victoria, blocking Katie in. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking Katie in the eye. "Do you want to come?"

"Sorry, I can't." Katie zipped her backpack shut and slung it over her shoulders. "I'm going to hang out with my friend Lizzie Zevon."

Margot let out a short laugh. "Aww, that's so sweet. Katie thinks she has friends." She then rolled her eyes as she turned to Victoria, speaking to all of her friends, even though Katie was right there. "Isn't she _so_ annoying? She brags about having these celebrity connections and her brother all the time."

Unlike their other victims, Katie was never one to back down without a fight. "You don't know what you're talking about!" She snapped. "I never brag about my brother." She regarded Victoria with a sneer. "At least I don't steal other people's bags and act like it was my idea to get it in the first place." She put her hands on her hips. "And I'm not the one always talking about someone behind their back."

Victoria smiled, taking a step towards Katie. "We're not talking about you behind your back," she said quietly. "We're talking about you to your face." She then shot up her right hand, where her binder was sitting and hit Katie on the side of the face.

Katie gasped and moved her hand up to her cheek; it was already starting to turn puffy. She clenched her hands into fists, looking over at the front of the room once more. Miss. Collins had missed the exchange, she was busy helping another girl in the class with the lesson they had just learned. She turned back to Victoria, getting ready to rip her a new one, but Victoria reached out and grabbed onto her jaw and chin, squeezing tightly.

"You don't have the guts to tell anyone," Victoria said in a quiet voice. "Because if you do, you'll be swallowing needles."

Katie's eyes widened. _Is this girl serious? _She couldn't find anything to say in reply. It was the first time she had been speechless when someone had taunted her. She had even done a pile-driver on a kid who was egging her on when it came to the commercial she had done to get _into _the Palm Woods School. Now here was this girl, threatening her to swallow needles, and who hit her with a binder, and she couldn't say anything.

"So." Victoria dropped her hand, a bright smile on her face. "You're always talking about your little friends and their band and everything. Sounds like one of them could be your boyfriend. You know…" she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "If you have one."

Katie scowled. "I do have a boyfriend."

"You don't talk about him much," Cara pointed out, immediately to her left.

Katie crossed her arms over her chest. "Just because I don't like to talk about my personal business or whatever, doesn't mean that you can." She grabbed onto her backpack straps and started to move out of the room. Tiffany reached out and grabbed onto Katie's backpack, stopping her in her tracks. "What now?" She turned back to the four girls.

"Are you a virgin, Katie?" Margot asked, her hair falling into her face.

Katie felt herself blush.

She hated talking about anything that had to do with sex. She refused to take sex Ed and she barely even let her mother try to talk to her about it. She understood what it was and what happened, so she didn't understand why everyone made a big deal about it. It wasn't like she didn't get enough of it from the media; it was in almost every movie and TV show she watched. Being around Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James didn't help on that front either. They were guys, they were always joking about it. The girls did it too, if they weren't making jokes about it, they were talking about some sort of scandal that had to do with it in Hollywood, it was everywhere.

"So what if I am!?" She pulled her backpack out of Tiffany's grasp.

"You mean you haven't lost it yet?" Victoria fluttered her eyelashes to her friends, who smiled. "That's so cute! Sixteen years old and she hasn't done it." She lightly tapped Katie on the shoulder with her index finger. Her long acrylic nail poked her skin. "So what are you waiting for?"

Katie pushed Victoria's hand away. "That's none of your business!" She turned and once again, Tiffany stopped her, roughly grabbing onto her backpack. Victoria made a show of yawning, stretching her arms over her head.

"Whatever, this conversation is getting boring," She said. Victoria examined her fingernails. "So, what did your brother say?" She tried to look as if she didn't care. "Did you ask him about my party?"

Katie twisted her mouth to the side. "Yeah, they said that they'd go."

Victoria immediately brightened, as if everything that she had just said and did didn't happen. "Awesome!" She cheered. "I knew that you could get them to go. You're so invited, bring anyone you like, it'll be a fun night!" She picked her bag up off the ground and slung it over her shoulder. "Laters!" She gave Katie a finger wave before looking at her friends and leaving the room.

Katie gathered her things and slowly walked out of the room after them, but turning to go towards the crib rather than the pol. Her thoughts were racing at a mile a minute. First not having her first kiss, now she was being asked why she was a virgin. What was everyone's problem?

"Katie? Hey. I've been calling your name for, like, two minutes, did you not hear me?"

Katie looked up as Patrick moved into her path. She smiled and started to fix her hair before realizing what she was doing and forcing her hands back down to her sides. _Don't let him know you're anxious to see him, _she thought before flashing him another smile.

"Did Miss. Collins run your brain into the ground or something?" Patrick teased before smiling warmly at her.

Katie smiled back. "Not really," She said. "Just…kind of tired of school at this point."

"I hear ya," Patrick agreed. "It's not fair, really. Now that Riles and Rhubes are done, I'm stuck with Noah and Sydney and they always make me feel stupid when we're doing school work."

"Not that that's hard to do," Katie teased back.

Patrick's right eyebrow quirked so quickly, Katie wasn't sure if she saw it. He crossed his arms, his biceps bulging. "Yeah, well, I'm not the one with a head that looks like a Hershey's kiss, mate,"

Katie blinked for a moment, her face screwing up in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense," she said before dissolving into laughter.

"I know," Patrick admitted. "But I had to come up with something fast." He shrugged, giving a charming smile. "And you looked like you could use a laugh."

"Thanks." Katie then turned back to him, suddenly realizing something. "Wait. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you."

Katie froze at that. _He came to see me? _That was so cute. So sweet. So…romantic? The thought alone made her blush. Things like that only happened in movies, to other girls, not to her. Nothing romantic ever happened to her. She glanced up at Patrick and saw that he looked stricken.

"What?" He asked. "Did I say something wrong?" She could see the panic rise in his eyes. "I said something wrong didn't I? I mucked up. If I did, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"You're ok," Katie reassured him.

Sometimes she forgot she was his first girlfriend…or whatever she was. It was hard to believe, seeing how many girls threw themselves at him, how many flirted with him like there was no tomorrow. And while he did try to give them their individual attention and flirted back enough so that they were one step away from potentially passing out, he didn't seem to get to the point where he was particularly interested in them. She still didn't understand why he was interested in _her_.

"You're cute," she said, then blushed, appalled that the words came out of her mouth.

Patrick merely shrugged before smirking, the one facial expression making her knees weak." Well, I already knew that." He stood a step towards her. "I'm just glad you approve." Katie rolled her eyes and when they got back to its original position, she was surprised to see that Patrick had taken another step closer to her. _Is he?_

"Hey, you're Patrick right?"

Patrick backed away from Katie, a frown on his face, and turned to face Victoria, who smiled at him. "Yeah," he said. "That's me."

"Great." Victoria flashed Katie a wicked smile. "I hope Katie was just inviting you to my party. It's going to be the event of the year."

"My sisters told me about it, yeah, we're all going." Patrick nodded at her, giving her a friendly smile. "Thanks for the invite." Katie glanced at him, suddenly feeling very self-conscious in her tank-top, jacket, and jeans compared to Victoria's maxi dress—which Katie was sure she had seen in _Teen Vogue_.

"You're certainly welcome," Victoria replied. Her eyes moved back to Katie once more, her eyes flashing with amusement. "I can't wait to see you both there."

"Don't worry," Katie said through gritted teeth. "You _will_." She looked down at Patrick's hand then grabbed onto it. "C'mon, let's go to the pool." She smiled when Patrick turned his hand to the side, moving his fingers in between hers, pressing his rings against her knuckles, and allowed her to pull him after her. She hoped her hand wasn't sweating. She was fine holding his hand now, before she would get super nervous about it and hem and haw until he finally grabbed her hand and held it still. It was cute he did that for her, and when she looked at him, he just blushed and looked away. Now it was just this first kiss thing that loomed over their heads that kept her from being completely happy.

Katie glanced over her shoulder at Victoria's retreating figure before sighing, turning back to face the pool.

She just couldn't win.

* * *

**A/N: **So if the first part seemed familiar, it's because I re-worked a chapter from _Do It All Again _to be from Lizzie's POV. I hope you guys still liked it. Also, this story is set sometime before _Big Time Dreams _so that's why there's a brief mention of schooling and stuff, though the guys aren't over yet. I love writing Patie, I just think the whole first boyfriend-girlfriend this is so much fun to write. It hasn't been shown much yet, but there is going to be Noah/Lizzie in this story as well.

Sorry for the wait on an update.

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. With Friends Like These

**.:Chapter 05:.**

* * *

"James! Come on! We're going to be late for Tradition!" Carlos let out a heavy sigh of boredom and practically melted like Gumby off the couch and onto the floor. He dramatically rested his arm over his forehead. "God, I'm _so _tired of waiting for him every time we want to go somewhere."

"Don't you think you're being a little overly dramatic?" Katie asked with a light giggle, leaning over the arm of the couch. He looked so despondent; his lower lip poking out towards the ceiling. Though she understood his anxiety. It was Friday night and every Friday night since Big Time Rush and the DarkElements had started working on their music together; they had dinner together and hung out on Friday night for a couple of hours. For the first three years they always had it at the apartment and it was really only open to the two bands, Katie, and Mrs. Knight. But with the New Year, they decided to change 'Tradition' to allow the rest of their friends in as well as deciding to hold it at the Jacksons' house so it would accommodate more people.

Katie continued to look down at him and shook her head. "We've all known James takes forever in the bathroom. Let's hope this time we can watch Mom scare him out of the bathroom again. The chainsaw was probably my favorite one."

"Really?" Carlos tilted his head to the side. "I thought the Freddy Krueger fingernails were the best."

Katie laughed and reached out a hand, grabbing onto Carlos's hand. She pulled him to his feet as Kendal land Logan came out of their room. They took one glance at Carlos lying on the floor and quickly deciphered what was going on. "James is taking forever again, right?" Logan rolled his eyes. "Does he know _anything _about proper etiquette when it comes to having people wait?"

"No," Kendall said with a snort. He rolled his eyes before crossing his arms. "Don't you remember the things he made us late for because he was taking forever in the bathroom?" He started to count off on his fingers. "That field trip, that hockey game, that whole day of school, Katie's second birthday-"

"Hey!" Katie protested. She turned back to her brother and pouted, planting her hands on her hips. "You missed my second birthday?"

"You don't even remember it, Katie," Kendall pointed out.

"So?" Katie shot out her hand and whacked him on the arm. "It was my birthday! How do you think I'd feel if I missed one of your birthdays?" Kendall gave her a 'duh' look, resting his hands on the back of the couch and leaning towards her.

"You _have_," he said. "Like, the first three! You weren't even _born_ yet."

"So? If I could have been there, I would have been there! It's the thought that counts!" Katie protested. She poked him on the arm now, digging her fingertips into his side. "You owe me a birthday present." She tilted her head back and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

Kendall smiled. "Fine, Baby Sister, I'll think of something to give you later." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the side of the head. Katie gave a half smile. It faded after a moment.

She perched on the arm of the couch once more, gently crossing her arms. Baby Sister…she had been called that all the time since growing up with her brother…and it was the first time it actually rubbed her the wrong way. Was that all anyone saw of her? She knew she had a baby face; it was something that had been complimented on since she was a kid. Likened to that of a cherub, always being called cute and she was fine with that. Well, Victoria clearly wasn't fine with it or else she wouldn't have written the word 'ugly' on her desk. Katie tried to push the thought away, clearly imagining Victoria's smug smirk when she first saw the word penciled on her desktop. She wasn't ugly and had never thought of herself that way, until she spent nearly an hour staring at her reflection in her mother's compact mirror. It took her a while to convince herself that she wasn't ugly and that she did have a cute baby face.

But she wasn't a baby anymore. She was growing up, she was a young woman. She had a boyfriend, sort of. She had a best friend of her own that she had wacky and strange adventures with—she remembered the time she had taught Lizzie how to play poker and the two had nearly gotten caught with a undercover sting—and she was still being called a baby.

Logan looked at his watch. "We're going to be late if we don't get going now."

"James! Let's go!" Kendall called. He tightened his grip around the top of the couch. He rolled his head down towards the couch cushions. "So at this point, I'm thinking he either drowned or we got lucky and aliens abducted him."

Carlos sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide. "You believe in aliens too?"

Katie and Logan laughed as Kendall rolled his eyes. Katie pushed herself away from the couch and walked over to the bathroom. She lifted a fist and banged it against the door, ignoring the sting with each slap of her skin against the wood. "James! Come on! We're going to be late! And you know how Carlos gets if all of the chicken wings are gone by the time we get there."

"I'll be out in a minute," James replied. "Perfection takes time." There was a clattering sound and something clattered against the floor. Katie heard the sound of something shattering. "Great, now you made me drop my pocket mirror. That's seven years bad luck. I can't deal with seven years of bad luck. James Diamond is nothing but good luck."

"Yeah, well, you're going to get more than bad luck if you don't get out here right now!" Katie called back, her voice taking a sudden dangerous tone. Her eyes even narrowed for effect. There was a pause, another scrambling sound, and James opened the door, tossing a washcloth into the sink. "Great!" Katie changed her expression to a pleasant one. She turned back to the boys. "James is ready, let's go." She reached over to the counter and picked up her purse.

"How is it that someone as nice as your Mom and Dad had a child as evil as her?" Logan stage-whispered to Kendall.

"I've always wondered that myself," Kendall replied.

He smacked Logan on the chest, lifted Carlos off the floor, and followed the boys and Katie out of the apartment. They left the Palm Woods and climbed into the Big Time Rush mobile, which they had gotten back from Gustavo after Kendall and James had gotten their licenses. Katie grabbed onto the lever on the side of the passenger seat and pulled the seat forward, allowing Kendall and Carlos to sit in the back, pulling Logan in with them. Katie watched as the grabbed Logan by the arms and forced him in the middle seat between the two of them before pushing the seatback. James climbed into the driver's seat as Katie pushed her seat back.

"I still don't understand why you guys are able to drive and I'm not!" Logan protested as he buckled into place. "I mean, we used to have this chart to rotate the driving responsibilities around the three of us while we wait for Carlos to get his license." He turned and looked Carlos up and down. "Which I still think is going to take years off of Mama Knight's life."

"Logan we told you that as soon as you learned to stop backseat driving and being so critical," James said. He checked his hair in the rearview mirror before buckling himself in and starting the car. He turned the key in the ignition, took off the parking break, and reversed out of the parking space. He traversed out of the Palm Woods parking lot and directed towards the highway to drive to San Marino.

"In other words, when you stop making gasping sounds that freak us out and make us want to crash the car just to get away from you," Katie said. James, Kendall, and Carlos laughed and Katie beamed, leaning back in her seat. She closed her eyes, turning her face towards the sun as her hair flew around behind her, caught by the wind that rushed by their convertible. She was glad it was the weekend and she was hanging out with her friends, people that actually made her happy.

As they arrived in San Marino, Katie sat up straight and looked around. She liked the city on the outskirts of LA a little bit more than the entertainment hub of the west. It was close enough to the beach that she could smell it in the salty air—that was good for her; she was able to be near the beach without having to actually go to the beach. There were palm trees everywhere, which she grew to love quickly after their move from Minnesota, people on bikes, rollerblades, and skateboards, people walking their dogs. Everyone they passed smiled and waved as they went. It was definitely a lot friendlier out there than they were in Los Angeles.

_Maybe Victoria should take a little trip out here. She could learn a thing or two. _Katie shifted in her seat, shaking her head. Why was she thinking about Victoria when she was going to have good day with her friends? James must have noticed the shake of her head, for he glanced at her for a moment before refocusing on the road in front of them. Finally, he put on his turn signal and turned into a large neighborhood with mini mansions that lined the street. He drove down the street for a minute, and then turned to the left. He drove up a semi-long driveway, maneuvering the car around the fountain that sat in the center of the driveway and parked along with the cars that already parked.

The boys and Katie climbed out of the car and headed towards the house, climbing up the concrete, flagstaff stairs. Carlos knocked on the door then leaned into the intercom, pressing the large, rectangular button. "It's us!" He called.

Carlos stepped back and waited for the door to open. Katie's eyebrows furrowed together as she heard loud yelling and thudding footsteps. It wasn't that strange to hear yelling, screaming, thudding footsteps, and laughter from the Jacksons' home. What was strange was hearing it routinely increase and fade away every few seconds. The door then opened and Julius Jackson-McGuire leaned out, holding open the storm door. "Hey, how ya going?" He asked, his pearly whites flashing against his tanned skin. "You do know that you all can just walk in whenever you want?" He motioned to the golf club that was resting by the door. "We'll make sure it's you before we bash your brains in."

"Yep, you're definitely related to the others," James said, causing Julius to let out a bark of laughter.

Katie smiled as she watched him laugh. When she had first met him, she had a teeny tiny crush on him. Not that it was that hard for it to happen; the Jacksons all looked so similar to each other, having similar facial structures and features. If she had managed to like both Patrick _and _Noah before her feelings had shifted more over towards the more outgoing twin, it wasn't that much of a stretch for her to have a crush on the eldest Jacksons. Even Sydney, who was nearing his thirteenth birthday, was starting to get more female attention from their fans.

"Hey, Julius, we didn't know you were going to be back!" Logan said as the four boys and Katie moved through the door and kicked off their shoes, leaving it with the large pile of shoes. Looking over them, Katie could see that they were the last ones to arrive.

"I got in a couple of days ago," Julius explained. "Just to see how everything was going, to help Ronan out at the studio…and there were some things I wanted to talk to him about," he said mysteriously. He, unlike his siblings, wasn't in the music industry. He had been at one point, put out a solo album, and then stopped, wanting to focus on his schoolwork over everything else. If Katie was correct in remembering, he would have been graduating from college that year. Julius paused for a second, listening as the footsteps started again. "I'd back up if I were you."

Katie, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James all dutifully took a large step backwards. They watched, their eyes widening as they watched Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney all race around the corner, pushing and shoving each other as they went. Noah was knocked to the floor and Sydney jumped over him before Noah got to his feet and started running after them again. From the living room, Katie could hear Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Lizzie, Dak, and WayneWayne all shouting and cheering.

"Should I even bother asking?" Kendall asked, turning back to Julius. Being the eldest of the Jacksons he was used to his fair share of his brothers' and sisters' antics. Even when they had run by him, Julius barely batted an eye.

"Just a simple race," Julius said with a wave of his hand. "Trying to burn off some of the pixie sticks they consumed at the studio early today." He paused and lifted a finger. "Seriously, don't ask. But everyone else is here, just hanging out." He walked into the living room and went over to his new wife, Brittany, and gave her a kiss before dropping into a leather chair, picking up a remote, and turning up the sound to a football game that was playing.

"Ha! Ha! I win!" Sydney was cheering, holding his fists over his head in a victory dance.

"That was a close one, though," Stephanie said, lowering her video camera from her eye. She opened the view finder and twisted it around so the others could see. "It looked like Rhu was giving you a run for your money."

"Up until she ran into the door frame," Noah said. He moved a hand up to cover his mouth, though his shaking shoulders gave away his laughter. Rhuben pouted, rubbing at the red spot on her forehead. "And I thought only Patrick's head was hollow."

"Really?" Dak grinned. "Cause I thought Riley's swan dive over the back of the couch and face planting was hilarious."

Riley gave a sarcastic laugh. "Not as funny as this." She brought her arm way back behind her and brought it forward, smashing her open palm against the back of his head so it made a audible smacking sound.

"Now I'mnot the only one that has lower than _five_ brain cells," Patrick added. He and Riley laughed loudly and high-fived.

Dak's hands flew to the back of his head and he looked over at Rhuben." Sugar Plum, your sister is hurting me!" He called to his girlfriend.

"As long as I can kiss it better, its fine," Rhuben said and leaned over, giving the back of his head a kiss. Dak smiled an impish smile, dropping his hands form his head.

Sydney shook his head. "Apparently I'm the only sane one in this family," He commented, his eyebrows ticking upwards. He turned and spotted Katie and Big Time Rush and hurried over to them. "Katie! Hey guys!" He wrapped his arms around Katie in a tight hug before moving onto the guys, giving them a high-five. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to see your rat race," Carlos said. "That looked like fun!" A mischievous glint came to his eye and he started to rub the palms of his hands together. "A _lot_ more than our Palm Woods derby."

"Nothing's more fun than the Palm Woods derby, mate," Patrick said as the rest of the Jacksons hurried over to greet the rest of their friends. "Anything that makes it to so that Bitters is one step closer to having a heart attack can't be beat by anything." He gave Katie a warm smile and a kiss on the cheek before giving her a hug. Katie smiled as she hugged him back, enjoying the way his warm body felt against hers as well as the way his arms wrapped around her body. "How ya going?"

"Not bad," Katie replied, matching his warm smile with her own.

If Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were watching them she didn't notice. Sometimes when she was with him, everything else faded away and he was the only thing she was aware of. It got to the point where she had once spent twenty minutes smiling kind of goofily into space before she had finally snapped out of her daydream. There was another time she had embarrassed herself by tripping over the leg of a wooden bench in Palm Woods Park when she, Patrick, Noah, and Lizzie had been hanging out and she was too busy looking at him.

It was the last time she allowed to let herself get caught up in him until that moment.

"Waiting for James to get out of the bathroom was the most entertaining thing," She continued with a light roll of her eyes. "We had bets to see if he had drowned, hit his head and passed out, or finally got so dumb that he didn't remember why he was in there and was trying to figure it out."

"That only happened once," James defended himself.

"Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night, Handsome," Riley said. She grabbed onto Kendall's hands and pulled him behind her as they walked into the living room. "Pool is closed for cleaning this time, so we're just hanging out in here and in the basement and stuff. Food's in the kitchen as usual, so help yourselves."

"I already am, Ruby," Kendall said, taking his hands away from hers and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Katie rolled her eyes and slapped her hand against her forehead. She knew Kendall was one of the more romantic guys that anyone could ever meet, he had even told her that she deserved to be treated like a princess, and sometimes she still had second hand embarrassment from some of the things he said.

"Unbelievable, I haven't eaten yet and you already make me want to chuck, Hockey-Head."

"Food!" Carlos cheered and darted towards the kitchen.

Katie looked over as Lizzie moved to her side. Even with her hair up in a ponytail, minimum makeup, and just wearing a pink t-shirt and jean shorts she looked beautiful. "Oh come on, that's cute," Lizzie protested.

"That's embarrassing," Katie corrected her. "I've seen this from my brother a lot and still…second hand embarrassment _always_ gets me." She shook her head. "You don't know what it's like to have a brother that's embarrassing."

"Really?" Lizzie blinked for a moment. "'Cause I've felt nothing but embarrassed _for _Dak since I was born." The two girls laughed together. "C'mon, let's get some food. The guys are too preoccupied with that silly game anyway." Lizzie pointed over to the TV where a football game was playing. Just as she said, the guys were al enraptured with what was going on. Katie hooked her arm through Lizzie's and the two entered the kitchen where the girls were setting up plates of food. "So what do we have to eat?"

"Anything you can think of," Camille said. She pointed to her own plate which was filled with food. "When these guys say they like food, they _really_ like good."

"Cool. Sushi." Katie moved to the counter and grabbed a paper plate. She moved down along the counter, looking over the many different food and dessert selections. Her stomach growled in anticipation, scooping as much onto her plate as she could. Once she had what she wanted to eat, she walked over to the dining table at one end of the expansive kitchen and sat down. She glanced at Riley, who was sitting on the counter with Rhuben, both in Indian position. "Did you make any of this?"

"If by make you mean bought, yeah?" Riley said and she and Rhuben laughed. "Some of it. Rhu made some of the desert. Everything else is store bought."

"And it's totally delicious, too," Jo said. She spun her fork around her fingers before stabbing it into a piece of cheesecake. "So where's Ronan and them? I haven't seen them since we got here." She motioned between herself, Camille, and Stephanie.

"They're down in PanDEmonium," Rhuben said before placing a couple of grapes in her mouth.

Katie's eyebrows knitted together. "Where?"

"It's what we named our recording studio downstairs," Riley explained. She brushed her hair behind her shoulders. Katie watched as each raven, red streaked, way strand fell into place. She was used to seeing it in pigtails as opposed to the naturally wavy style it was. "He, Mama Knight, Kelly, and Gustavo are checking out some stuff downstairs." She took another bite of her sushi. "So we better eat fast before Gustavo gets to it…or Carlos…whichever comes first."

"Hey, just because my man likes to eat, doesn't mean that you can make fun of him for it," Stephanie protested, causing the girls to start laughing. "We just make fun of _you_ for it." The twin girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"Oh!" Lizzie's eyes lit up. "Did you ever tell them the story of what happened when Jo stayed for dinner that one time?" Katie looked around in confusion as Riley and Rhuben burst out laughing and Jo scowled.

"It's not _that_ funny," Jo pouted.

"Trust me, it was," Riley said. "But that's a story for another day." She snorted again and snuffed out the rest of it by putting another two pieces of sushi into her mouth. Jo's pout deepened even further and she reached down, starting to rub a spot at her leg.

Sydney poked his head into the kitchen before padding inside, followed by Patrick and Noah. All three boys looked anxious about something. Katie watched as Lizzie stood up and Noah walked over to her, giving her a kiss on the corner of the mouth before sitting down in the now unoccupied chair. Lizzie looped her arm around Noah's neck and sat down on his lap. "Are you going to eat that?" Noah pointed to the cine of grapes collected on her plate.

"You can have it," Lizzie said. She reached out a hand and plucked a few grapes off the vine before reaching over and poking them into his mouth.

"Thanks," Noah said as he chewed.

"You're welcome," Lizzie giggled, running a hand through his hair.

Katie tried not to let the jealousy flow through her body as she turned her attention back to her plate. Patrick sat down in the chair at her side, draping an arm around her shoulders as he did so. Using his hand that was draped over her shoulder, he tapped her shoulder. Katie followed the direction of his tap and saw nothing, when she turned back; she noticed he had taken some meatballs off her plate. Katie's eyes narrowed as she looked at him. His cheeks bulged.

"What?" His voice was muffled.

Katie giggled and shook her head. So what if she didn't get as much out of her relationship as Noah and Lizzie. Patrick was still cute and he made her laugh so easily. Sydney said 'hi' to the girls, and then went over to his sisters. He glanced at Katie for a moment. Sydney tapped his sister on the shoulder and brought a hand up beside his mouth. He whispered, but Katie could still hear what he said. "Can we give them to her now?"

Rhuben bobbed her head back and forth for a second, and then glanced over at Riley, who nodded. "We were going to wait for Ronan, but may as well." She tilted her head back towards the living room. "Go get the stuff." Sydney beamed and hurried out of the kitchen.

"What stuff?" Camille asked, perking up in her seat.

"You'll see," Rhuben said mysteriously. She pushed her plate aside and reached into her back pocket, pulling out a long, flat envelope. She tapped it against the palm of her hand, humming as she bobbed her head back and forth. She stopped humming and regarded Katie for a moment. "By the way, Kates, Pat told me about what happened with Victoria at the Palm Woods." She leaned forward, pressing her hands on her knees, giving Katie a hard stare. "That sucks and I'm sorry it happened." Katie nodded, feeling better with the concerned look Rhuben was giving her. "It's a tough lesson to learn, but you shouldn't name drop like that. I had to teach Lizzie this last summer,"—she tilted her head to the blonde next to Katie, though she kept her eyes on the brunette—"name dropping in this city, or around people trying to get into the industry will make you a lot of enemies. It sucks, but the sooner you lean that, the better off you'll be."

Katie nodded silently. She took everything Rhuben said and thought about it. Yeah, maybe she shouldn't have name dropped like that with Victoria. Especially since the girl probably knew a lot of people through her own father. She didn't think that it would be a big deal. _That probably is why they were teasing me so bad afterwards. No wonder they thought I didn't have any friends. Lizz is probably getting as famous as Dak._

"She's not saying that it's your fault," Riley continued, her face softening. She probably sensed the disappointment Katie was feeling. The Jacksons always were perceptive like that. Rhuben nodded along with Riley's words. "Girls like that are always causing trouble. They're just jealous of you. If you just keep being yourself, they'll realize they missed out on knowing an amazing girl,"

After a few minutes, Sydney came back into the kitchen, a guitar case in one hand and a stack of wrapped boxes in the other. He walked over to Katie and pushed the boxes onto the table, rested the guitar case beside her, then moved to the other side of the table where he held onto an envelope as well.

"So remember how we said that your Christmas gifts were going to be late?" Patrick asked, leaning in towards her. He reached out his hand and tapped his index finger on top of a wrapped box. "Merry late Christmas or whatever."

"Way to be enthusiastic, boofhead," Sydney said deadpan.

"No worries, Syd," Katie said, adopting one of their catch phrases. She remembered something about them saying they weren't going to have her gifts ready for Christmas. At the time she didn't particularly care, she was having too much fun with her family and friends during the holiday. "Can I open them now?"

"They're yours," Camille reminded her. "Go ahead."

Katie smiled and picked up the first box that was sitting on the table. She looked at the tag, seeing it was from Noah, and smiled at him before tearing apart the wrapping paper. Once that was done she practically ripped apart the box that was encasing it. Katie beamed when she saw the volleyball equipment inside. "Oh, wow, this is so cool! Thanks, No!" She leaned over and gave him a side hug.

"You're welcome," Noah said with a smile.

"Open mine." Patrick pushed his box closer to hers then faced him, clasping his hands together in his lap. Katie glanced at him, taking in the anxiety on his face as he chewed his lower lip, his piercings making clinking sounds as they connected with his teeth. "If you don't like it, I can get another one."

"Its fine," Katie said, opening the box. Her eyes widened when she pulled out a tiny charm bracelet that held an Eiffel tower charm as well as a bull charm. "It's…beautiful, actually."

"Wow." Stephanie nodded in approval. "You really have good taste." She looked over at Jo and Camille who both nodded and smiled in agreement. All three of them turned and nodded over at Katie, as if approving him for her. Katie smiled, continuing to turn the bracelet back and forth, the charms tinkling together with each movement. The light reflected off the light in the kitchen, creating tiny shards of light.

"I know that you like to study French and Spanish and all girls like jewelry so…" Patrick's eyes shifted for a moment. "D'you like it? If I mucked up-"

"I love it, Pat, thanks." Katie placed the bracelet on her wrist, admiring it as she turned it this way and that. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. It would have been the perfect moment for a kiss if everyone else wasn't there. Katie suddenly annoyed herself. _Geez, you have to stop thinking about this, _she thought.

"Aww," Lizzie cooed.

"Way to ruin the moment, Lizz," Katie said sarcastically, pulling back from Patrick. She admired the bracelet for another moment, a smile stretching on her face. Bringing her arm back down she bumped into the guitar case, almost knocking it over. Katie caught it and steadied it in her hands then looked over at Riley, who had her elbows resting on her knees, watching. Katie knew it was from her.

She picked up the guitar case, pushing back in her seat so she had enough room to play the guitar case on her lap. Moving quickly, her excitement fueling her, she unclasped the buckles on the case and opened it to find a shiny black acoustic guitar sitting in front of her. Looking it over Katie could tell it had been well taken care of, the strings were new and the fret board had been freshly waxed. The many times she sat next to her brother, watching him take care of his guitars she knew the sort of work that was put into it.

"You're giving her your old guitar?" Jo asked, turning to the fiery tempered Jackson, who gave a modest shrug. "You wouldn't even let me touch it when I came over last time."

"It's one of my old ones," Riley said. "And you always seemed to really like the guitar." She waved a hand. "If not obsessing over how I play it anyway." She flashed Katie a warm, toothy smile, showing that she was just teasing Katie. "And I figured it'd be a really good gift so, Merry Christmas, Kid."

Katie leapt up from her chair and hurried over to the teenage girl, throwing her arms around her in a hug. Riley laughed and hugged her back. Katie didn't know what to say, it was one of the better gifts she had ever gotten for anything, even her birthday. There was nothing she could give anyone that would be better than-

"Us next!" Sydney declared, motioning between him and Rhuben. "We don't want to be left out."

Rhuben handed over her envelope and Katie took it in her hand. She quickly opened it, ignoring the threat of paper cut and pulled out a thin sheet of paper. Her eyes scanned the page and she turned back to Rhuben with a look of awe. "You're going to give me dance lessons?"

"For whichever one you want," Rhuben said. "Tap, Jazz, or ballet. Or all three if you want. Private lessons and everything."

"Me! Me!" Sydney pushed his paper into her face. "This is mostly from me, but it's from Ronan and Julius and Brittany too."

Katie laughed and took his own envelope. She thought she had gotten some of the greatest gifts before then, but now looking at what it was that Sydney had gotten her, she couldn't do anything to conceal the excitement scream that tore from her throat or the way she ran in place, making babbling sounds that were incomprehensible. Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah laughed as the others looked on impatiently.

"Well?" Lizzie demanded. "What is it?"

"They got me a horse!" She finally managed to say. "I have a horse! I have a horse!" Unbeknownst to a lot of people, Katie absolutely loved horses. She used to take riding lessons every now and then when she was back in Minnesota. After getting kicked out of many sports for unsportsmanlike behavior, it was something that had managed to fall back on and she loved it ever since.

"Technically it's not yours, it's rented, so it's kind of yours," Sydney explained. "Ronan didn't think that we'd be able to afford an actual horse, what with the stable fees and everything."

"How did you know?" Katie didn't know what to do. At that point she was a few seconds away from screaming again. "I never-"

"Kendall talks about you a lot," Rhuben said.

"She's right," Jo agreed. "When we were dating, he talked about you all the time." She paused for a moment. "Y'know, when he wasn't too busy talking about hockey." She glanced over at Riley, noticing she said the same thing at the same time, and the two girls laughed. Katie looked back and forth between the two of them, making a mental note to ask about that. She had always wondered how the two girls had managed to still be such good friends though Kendall dated both of them while things had been rocky between Rhuben and Camille for a while when _he _had dated both of _them_.

"And we figured, since you were always the one that didn't seem to have anything to do rather than get dragged by the guys everywhere or do things you don't want to do, why not see what you were interested in," Sydney explained. "So we asked Kendall and your Mum and here you go!" Dimples appeared in his cheeks and his eyes flashed with excitement.

Katie smiled as she looked over her gifts. Finally, something she could do if she wasn't hanging out with Lizzie or following the guys around. Something that she could do that was just hers. "You guys are the greatest," Katie said. "I mean it, you really are." She tried to continue, but couldn't find any other words to say.

"Now that we got that emotional crap out of the way," Patrick said, standing up and pushing his chair back. "Who wants to have another race? Or find some way to humiliate the guys? Beat em' at their own game?"

"I'm in!" Camille shot her hand into the air. "Anything to knock them off their high-horses is good for me."

Katie laughed and followed her friends out of the kitchen.

* * *

**A/N: **Yay, a happier chapter for Katie. So, I got the idea for her Christmas gifts from things that Ciara Bravo is into; the guitar, dance tap, jazz, and ballet, horseback riding, volleyball, soccer, swimming, Spanish, and French. Also, Ethan, if you don't mind, I'm going to put the sleepover one-shot that you wanted in this story. I thought it would work better as a chapter in this as opposed to it sitting by itself. If that's ok with you.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. Teenage Kicks

**.:Chapter 06:.**

* * *

Katie shifted her backpack up over her shoulder as she filed out of the Palm Woods School for their break that day. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and took it out to read the text she had just received. Glancing over her shoulder to be sure Miss. Collins wasn't watching; she had a tendency to confiscate anyone's phones if they were caught with them out in the classroom. James had his phone taken away a lot whenever he was in class, along with whichever girl he was flirting with at the time. Carlos's phone was confiscated nearly as much, only for the fact that he liked to listen to his ringtone so often that he never turned off the sound, choosing to dance along with it whenever his phone started to ring. Katie, at first, had no need for a cell phone and didn't understand why everyone had theirs in hand all the time. It wasn't until she had gotten back to school, after the guys' tour that she understood how let out you could feel without someone to talk to.

Katie pulled up the text she received and smiled as she read it over.

**Patrick: **I swear to god, I haven't been this bored in school in my entire life. That just means that I need some Katie-time. Are you excited for our date tonight? Xo

Katie could feel her cheeks heat up as she read the text over a second time before trying to think of something to say. No matter how annoyed she was with how slow her relationship was moving, she could always count on Patrick to make her feel better. Almost every morning she woke up to a good morning text from him, whenever she tried to thank him for it later he would hem and haw, saying that he didn't know what she was talking about. She bet he was embarrassed by it sometimes, she knew she was, it was kind of weird to know you liked someone so much that you thought about them a lot. Things could get awkward between them sometimes, but they were getting through those moments.

**Katie: **I always am. Only because I know that you're going to pay for everything. It has nothing to do with you at all. Lol.

She didn't have to wait long for a reply.

**Patrick: **Haha. You know you're lucky to have my attention.

**Katie: **You mean you're lucky to have _my_ attention!

**Patrick: **Yeah. You're right. Dude, I forgot to mention. I got an 'A' on my math test, surprisingly, so I asked Mama Knight if it was ok, and she said that you can stay out a half our later than your normal curfew.

**Katie: **Sweet! I can't wait. I'll see you then.

**Patrick: **Later, babe.

Katie smiled and put her phone back into her pocket, walking into the Palm Woods Pool and over to the smoothie stand. Moving up in line, she looked around the pool, wondering if any of her friends were there. Jo was probably working on _New Town High_ that day, having gone back to the show after she had returned from New Zealand, Stephanie was probably working out with Riley and Rhuben as their new backup dancer now that they were back in the studio, and Camille was most likely at an audition. Ugh. This was another reason she hated being in the Palm Woods School by herself when everyone else was either being homeschooled or didn't have to go to school anymore. There was really no one for her to talk to.

"I can get that smoothie for you, Katie," Victoria said with a warm smile, moving up to the brunette's side. Before Katie could decline, she moved in front of her and whipped out a black credit card, slapping it down on the counter. "It's the least I could do because you got your brother and his friends to come to my party."

"Yeah, well, parties are their thing," Katie said. "You should have been here when they threw their first party. Mom was pissed when we got back. The Palm Woods was nearly destroyed. There was even pool furniture up on the roof." She smiled with pride, crossing her arms over her chest. "Carlos was the one that did that."

"So having them at my party should make it a blast," Victoria said. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, her long earrings jingling at the movement. Katie raised a hand in front of her face, shielding herself from the diamonds that sparkled in front of her. "Did I mention that I had a surprise for the party? I mean, _everyone _knows that I have Britney Spears coming, and that I have the latest gadgets for my gift bags. You know the new iSlab coming out?"

"You don't have one yet?" The words tumbled out of Katie's mouth before she could stop them. "There's this guy that gives them out to people for free to test them. If they figure out the bugs in the system and everything, then they can keep it." She gave a modest shrug. "I've been doing that for the past year."

Victoria's eyes narrowed. "Good for you," her tone suddenly became icy. After a second, she turned back to the counter, holding up two fingers to show how many smoothies she wanted. "Must be hard having to work for everything."

"Actually, I find working for what I have better than having daddy just give it to me," Katie shot back. She was tired of trying to be nice to her; she just wanted her off her back. She had just seen the way that Victoria had gone from the sweet girl that could get whatever she wanted, to being your worst enemy; she wasn't going to have it happen anymore. She was tired of running away from her; she was going to find something that would put her in her place once and for all.

"At least I have a daddy," Victoria replied. The warm formalities were completely gone from her voice now. "One that knows how to treat his little princess." She picked up the smoothies that were handed to her and she turned back around, holding onto them tightly, her French tipped fingernails pressing into the plastic. "But I know that not everyone can be as lucky as I am." She giggled to herself, handing Katie her smoothie.

"If that's how you feel," Katie said evenly. She then lowered her gaze to her smoothie. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with it, but as she was already aware of from Victoria, looks could be deceiving. Katie knew everything there was about sabotaging someone's drink, having done it stealthily to each of the boys whenever they got up from the table at a restaurant. Now whenever they went out, even if they all had to go to the bathroom badly, they would refuse to get up from their chairs, eyeing each other warily as they waited for Mrs. Knight—or Gustavo as the case may be—to pay the check so they could leave.

"You know, Katie, I don't like to fight with you," Victoria said, her voice taking a sudden turn. Now Katie eyed her as warily as she had her drink. Like she was going to fall for something that easily. "I think we could be really good friends if we could just set our egos aside. I mean,"—she batted her eyelashes meaningfully—"you and me are a lot alike."

"Really?" Katie snorted.

"Really." Victoria stepped closer to Katie, her eyes shifting for a moment. "You and me, we both like to try hard to get what we want." She gently moved her smoothie forward, as if pointing at Katie. "Yes, we do it in different ways and for different things, but we work hard to get what we want. I mean, I have to keep my grades up if I want a shot to get my allowance on the weekends." She sucked in a short breath, her eyes starting to become glassy, as if she was going to cry. "Without my thousand dollar allowance, how am I going to buy all my stuff?"

"Poor you," Katie said unsympathetically.

"But you work hard in a different way," Victoria continued, her eyes moving back over to look directly into Katie's. Her gray eyes, were usually held a sense of entitlement in them, were now filled with…Katie wasn't quite sure; she couldn't put her finger on it. "You know what you're doing and you can go to some of the higher ups to get what you want and that's really cool. You're tough and I like that."

Katie was silent for a long moment. It took her a while until she heard Victoria's words exactly. She expected some sort of insult or backhanded comment that was disguised as a compliment, but nothing came. Katie finally shook her head and turned her attention back to Victoria. "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome."

Katie clutched her smoothie close to her chest and turned to walk away from Victoria. Moving her foot forward, Katie felt something taut against the top of her foot seconds before she tripped onto the concrete, scraping her elbows and palms, splashing the smoothie onto her chest. Laughter erupted around her and Katie rolled over to find Tiffany and Margot sitting on either sides of the smoothie stand, holding onto opposite ends of a thick piece of rope. Cara popped out from behind the smoothie stand, a video camera in her hand. As droplets of smoothie dribbled off her chin and onto the concrete below her, Katie pushed herself to her knees and got to her feet.

Keeping her head down, brushed some of the smoothie off her chest, trying to keep the sound of laughter out of her ears as she walked out of the Pool. Tears welled up in her eyes and she tried her hardest not o let them fall. Her lower jaw quivered with effort as she sucked in sharp breaths. As the seconds passed, her eyes continued to well until the tears fell down her cheeks before she could stop them. A lump formed in her throat and her stomach sank, like it did each time she cried. She didn't cry often, but when she did, it took a while for her to stop. Katie slowed her steps, wiping off her cheeks each time a tear fell, quietly crying as she walked up the back stairwell to the crib. If she went the long way, maybe she would have stopped by the time she got back to the crib.

On a whim, Katie pulled her phone from her pocket and punched a number on her keypad. Hearing it start to ring, she crouched down on the step, bringing her knees up to her chest. She didn't want to go back to the crib and have them see her so upset, Kendall would freak out, James would freak out, Carlos would try his hardest o make her feel better which would just make things worse, and Logan would probably try to give her space, which would just make her feel worse. That's why she hadn't told them, yet, about what had happened between her and Patrick before, when he had gotten beaten up. They wouldn't understand, they would automatically go into big brother mode and run with their emotions, rather than listen to her. No wonder she was always being treated like a baby.

"I was hoping I'd hear your voice today," Patrick said as soon as he picked up. Katie smiled a little, but the smile was short lived. "I mean, earlier than when I saw you…you know, at our date…Ok, you know what? I'm just going to shut up now." Katie tried to laugh, but she sniffled a little and started to cry once more. "Kates? Are you ok? What happened? What's wrong?" Katie tried to say something, but he cut her off again. "Do I have to beat someone up? You know I will."

Katie managed to scoff. "Don't you think that's going to make things worse?" She finally managed to say, sucking in a long breath through her nose. Her voice wasn't quivering as much as it had been before, however the lump was still in her throat. "I mean, with what happened last time?"

"I was jumped when I was tired, Katie," Patrick said in a low tone. "I think I've proven many times before that I actually know how to defend myself." He gave a bitter laugh. "Longer than I should have, actually." There was a brief silence between the two of them. It was a bit awkward, there were different emotions running through the conversation, different undertones. Patrick's held one of bitterness that he hadn't been able to escape whenever he was brought back into those memories. Katie's held one of sadness and frustration, emotions she had pent up for a while and couldn't find a place or time to bring it out. "Sorry, I'm making this about me. What's going on?"

"It's alright," Katie said quietly. She bent forward, angling her face so that her last tear rolled off her cheek, down the tip of her nose, and dripped onto the floor. She was starting to feel better. "I'm just a little overwhelmed. I'm tired of people at this school, thinking of bringing up home schooling to Mom again."

"If you need help to bring her around on that, I'm sure we can talk to her," Patrick suggested. "Or Ronan could. I mean, I know they're dating now and it might not really be his business, but if it helps-"

"Just talking to you helps Pat," Katie replied. She could already picture him sitting up straight, smiling with pride. "As much as that's going to inflate your ego, you know it's true." She could hear Patrick chuckling and her smile widened. "I like your laugh." She brought a hand up and slapped herself on the forehead. _Stupid, Katie_ she thought. _You could have said anything else that wouldn't have embarrassed yourself. _"That was the dumbest thing I could have ever said, please ignore that."

"Ignore a comment that filled my daily embarrass Katie quota? I don't think so," Patrick teased. "Besides, I know you think that everything about my personality is cute and that my body is hot, so either way I'm happy."

"Oh please!" Katie said. Her tears were now gone and she was starting to feel like herself again. She looked at her watch, getting up from the step. If she didn't get moving now, she wouldn't be able to change her shirt and get back to the school room before class started up again. "Hey, I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"See you."

"Bye." Katie ended the call and put her phone in her pocket once more, heading up the rest of the stairs and coming out of the stairwell onto the second floor. Passing the doors from Z to J, she opened the door to the apartment and stepped inside, looking down and watching as Rhuben and Kendall shuffled back and forth across the floor, crouching down towards the floor as Riley, Carlos, James, and Logan sat on the couch, which had been pressed up against the back wall, shouting and cheering. "What are you doing?"

As Kendall turned to look over at his sister, Rhuben shot out a hand and grabbed a green soccer sock that was tucked into the side of his black shorts. With a cheer, Rhuben got to her feet, waving the sock over her head. Riley let out a whoop and leapt off the couch before giving her sister a congratulatory hug and the two exchanged high-fives. Kendall, on the other hand, looked annoyed as he got to his feet amongst James's, Carlos's, and Logan's cheers. Katie laughed to herself, watching as the two girls continued to cheer. Throughout the past year, as things had gotten better for the Jacksons, they had become closer than ever, and Riley and Rhuben had slowly started to push away their natural instinct of being independent—something they had done, trying to be prepared in case they were separated into foster care—and was starting to show how close they used to be. Carlos had even started to call them Mary-Kate and Ashley when they were together, to tease them about it.

"So this is what you guys do when we're at school?" Katie asked as she walked over to the group. A part of her felt a twinge of jealousy as she watched them. They all had good friendships with each other. They rarely ever got into fights, but when they did they could be pretty vicious and heated as they all had their opinions on different matters. But they always managed to come back together as friends again. She seemed to be the only one that had problems making friends.

"We're working out while we wait for Pat, No, and Syd to get off school," Rhuben said, turning to face her, placing her hands on her hips. She had two purple soccer socks sticking out the sides of her shorts. "It's a game that Julius taught us, but it works for exercise, quick thinking, and fast reflexes."

"So we figured we'd show these guys how to lose," Riley added with a laugh.

"Excuse me, but I managed to beat you once," James pointed out. Riley turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

"That's only because your arms are longer than mine and you can reach around my body easier than I can." She turned to Katie, shaking her head. "I was holding onto his back for five minutes and he kept swinging me around like I was a rag doll or something."

"I'm just that good." James grinned.

"And modest," Logan murmured, shaking his head. He also had a pair of soccer socks sticking out from the sides of his jeans. He turned back to Katie, tilting his head to the side. "Shouldn't you be in school, Katie?"

"Yeah," Katie said quietly, starting to shuffle towards her room. "I just had to come back here and change my shirt."

"What happened?" Kendall seemed to have noticed the hitch in her voice for he immediately turned and gave her a scrutinizing stare. He always knew when something was wrong with her. Even when she was sick in elementary school, she would go down to the nurse to find Kendall waiting for her, checking to see if she was ok. She had no idea how he always knew what was wrong, but he had always been her protector like that. She loved her brother for that, but sometimes she wished he wasn't so perceptive over the things she was going through. "You got it all over your shirt."

"I tripped at the pool," Katie replied. She waved him off. "No big deal, Big Brother. I'm just going to change my shirt and get back down there before Miss. Collins notices I'm gone." Katie ducked her head and walked into her room, closing the door behind her. Dropping her backpack to the ground, Katie carefully peeled off her t-shirt and walked to the closet to get another one. Hearing her bedroom door open behind her, she whirled around, moving the shirt up to cover her chest, opening her mouth to scream at whichever guy it was to get out. Seeing it was Riley, she relaxed, lowering the shirt. "Geez, you scared me."

"That's the initial reaction I get from most people, surprisingly," Riley said, closing the door with her foot. She brought her arm out from behind her back, holding onto a first aid kit. "I wanted to take a look at your hands, see if they were ok."

Katie looked down at her hands, the palms were red and stung a little, some of the skin had been ripped back. Otherwise she was ok. Lowering her hands, she looked up at Riley, her eyes widening a little. "How'd you know I hurt my hands?"

"I smell blood just as easily as I smell fear, mate," Riley joked. She set the first aid kit on the desk and opened it, looking inside to find some bandages and Neosporin to use. "Though knowing me, that's not far off." She scratched the back of her neck, then made a clicking sound with the side of her mouth and turned back to Katie. "Hands out, Kid," she instructed.

Katie did as she was told and Riley dabbed some of the gel onto her palms, chuckling as Katie winced at the sting, instinctively curling her fingers down. Pressing her fingers onto her palms made it sting more and her hands snapped back open. "Yeah, you should've seen me the last time I needed this stuff. I got major road rash from a failed skate trick I was working on, yeah?" Riley blew her hair off her forehead, her eyes shining. "And when they put this stuff on my knee, I kicked my doctor so hard I bruised his kneecap." She jokingly grimaced. "Woops." Katie laughed.

"So why do I get the feeling that when you got here you had just stopped crying or were about to start?" Riley asked gently.

Katie sighed heavily. There were plenty of times she hated how perceptive the Jacksons could be and this was definitely one of them. "It's just some stuff going on at school. I'm getting a little frustrated with some things. It's nothing I can't handle."

"If you're sure," Riley dismissed. "But if you ever want to know, you know I'm here to listen." Katie didn't reply. She continued to stand still as Riley finished dressing her hands, placing a bandage on each one of her palms. "Thanks, Riles."

"No worries, Kid." Riley glanced over her handiwork. "Looks cool. Like you've taped your hands for a fight or something." Her eyes turned sad for a moment. "Glad to see my talent hasn't gone to waste." She leaned back against the desk, stretching her tanned legs out in front of her.

Katie chewed her lower lip for a moment. "Sorry about the whole MCAT thing," she said in a low voice. "I know that you were really excited about becoming a pediatrician and everything and then Logan took you to take the test…" She shook her head. "I hope you're not still mad at him for it."

Riley blinked once. "I was never mad at Logan about the test," she said. Tilting her head to the side, she scratched the side of her jaw, shifting her gaze. "I'll admit I took it out on him, but that's because he was an easy target." Riley let out a heavy sigh and dropped her head back, allowing her hair to cascade down her shoulders. "Keep a secret?" She didn't wait to see if Katie responded, which actually made Katie feel good. That meant she really did trust her to keep all of her secrets. "I wasn't mad at Logan about the test. I was mad at myself. The thing is…I didn't fail because I got a bad score, I failed because I didn't write anything down." Katie looked at her in confusion. "Exactly. I didn't write anything because I froze. I kept thinking; what was I going to do if I got a good score? That meant that at some point I was going to have to start going into Pre-Med and go to medical school and potentially leave the band. Don't get me wrong, I still want to be a pediatrician; I just don't think the traditional way of going about it is for me. I'm not giving up my dream. Not again. Not knowing how I was going to do, and I hate not knowing, I didn't write anything down. So I got a zero and then got mad at Logan because he was the one that dragged me there."

"Wow," Katie said. That was all she could come up with that would sum up how she was feeling. She wouldn't tell anyone else unless Riley said she could. Still, that was a lot to handle. She knew how tough things were for her friends as they tried to juggle school with their careers. Katie nodded. She went into her closet and grabbed a purple tank-top, then layered it with a black vest. Turning back to Riley, she held out her arms and Riley gave her a silent nod of approval. Katie licked her lips for a moment. Maybe this would be a good time to ask. "Riles?" Katie asked slowly. "What would you do if someone was bullying you?"

Riley barely let Katie finish her question before responding, "I'd kick her ass." Riley lifted an arm and ran her hand through her hair, something Katie noticed to be her 'thing' as much as smirking was. "The quickest way for a bully to leave you alone is by giving them a taste of their own medicine." She looked up as there was a knock on the door and Rhuben stuck her head inside.

"Carlos is challenging you for a round," Rhuben said. "I tried to talk him out of it, but considering he's been going to the gym as much as James has been going now, I think he may give you a run for your money." She held up her hand, sticking out her thumb and pinkie finger, shaking her hand. "I've even got ten dollars on it. Against you of course."

"Thanks, Sis."

Riley got up from the desk and left the room. Katie smiled to herself before walking over to Rhuben, rubbing her hands off on the sides of her jeans. "Hey, Rhu?" She asked, getting the girl's attention. "Do you mind if I exchange the dance lessons for something else?" She continued as Rhuben's right eyebrow raised, though her facial expression didn't change. Sometimes it scared her how hard it was to read the Jacksons, not sure what their reaction to something was going to be unless it was something exciting. "Not that I don't want the lessons, it's just…dancing's not really my thing."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Rhuben replied. She reached out and placed a hand on Katie's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "You can exchange it for whatever you want, within reason. It's your Christmas gift." She crossed her arms over her chest, giving her a warm smile. "So what d'you want, KK?"

Katie tried to hide the evil smile that was working its way on her face. "How about soccer?"

"I didn't know you liked to play," Rhuben said. She thought for a moment. "Bonzer. Good choice if you ask me. We can meet up on the beach this weekend if you want. To get started on it." She rubbed her hands together before lacing her fingers, pointing both of her index fingers at Katie. "We can get started with the basics and then, depending on your conditioning, work your way up from there."

"Sounds great, Rhu, thanks!" Katie's smile slowly lowered and she bashfully twisted the tip of her shoe into the ground. "Um, but instead of the beach, can't we go to the park? You know how much I hate sand. I mean, it gets everywhere and it tracks and then there's the seagulls…"

Rhuben threw her head back and laughed. "Whatever you want, but don't whinge if things start to get tough ok?"

"Ok." Katie grabbed her backpack and pulled it up over her shoulders once more. She pointed over her shoulder. "I have to get back to class, but I promise I'll work on some stuff on our second break today." She wrapped her arms around Rhuben's waist in a hug. "Thanks, Rhu."

"You're welcome," Rhuben replied, giving her a hug back.

Katie grinned and bent down to grab the soccer ball that was resting by the foot of her bed. She picked it up and tucked it under her arm before hurrying out of the room. She went over to Kendall, who was now sitting on the couch, watching as Carlos and Riley shuffled around in a tight circle, trying to grab socks from each other's shorts, and wrapped her arm around him. She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Kendall looked startled for a moment before turning a warm gaze to her. "What was that for?"

"I just felt like it," Katie replied. "I'll see you later, Big Brother."

"See you, Baby Sister."

Katie hurried out of the apartment and back down to the Palm Woods Pool. She looked around and spotted Victoria standing by a pool chair, wrapping some hair around her finger as she stood talking to an older boy, giggling at whatever he said. Katie smirked and placed the soccer ball on the ground. She backed up a few paces, glanced up at Victoria once more, and then rushed forward; planting her left foot on the ground, and slammed the top of her right foot into the ball. Katie watched as the ball arched through the air and smacked Victoria in the back of the head.

_Bull's eye! _Katie thought, turning and running from the pool.

* * *

Later that night Katie frowned as she looked at the dresses that were in her closet. Nothing really looked like it screamed New Year's. Nothing looked like it screamed a party that Victoria would be throwing. When she had come back into the classroom, she was rubbing the back of her head and scowling as she looked around the room, wondering who would have done such a thing. Katie did her best to look as innocent as possible and Victoria's eyes had moved over her and she huffed, sitting down in her seat, continuously rubbing the back of her head. Katie kept checking during class, to see if she had a welt, unfortunately she didn't. While that happiness had lasted for the rest of the class time, increasing when she went back to get her ball, it all went out the window as she looked over what to wear for the party.

She had nothing. The girl from Minnesota was showing her colors as still living back in the Midwest, if her clothes had anything to say about it. She prided herself on not changing when moving out to LA, but maybe that's what was hindering her. Katie shook her head. _No, don't admit it. _It was easier when she was in Minnesota, what she did and how she looked wasn't nearly as important back there, she missed it. If she went out to her mother and told her what was going on, then she would have to go out with her mom to get a dress with her mom and when she got back, the boys would make a big deal about it and demand to see it. Then she'd have to model it for them and…ugh….

No.

That was _so _not happening.

Letting out a sigh, Katie turned away from her closet, dejectedly closing the door behind her. There wasn't much longer that she could do for the guys not to make a big deal about it, but she wasn't going to ask them to take her to the mall just to have them embarrass her there rather than back at the Palm Woods. _Oh well, the party's next week, so I have some time left to get a dress._ Katie's upper lip curled. Was it really worth it? Going to a party for a girl that she wasn't even sure if she liked her in the first place?

Her eyes moved around her room to her backpack and she winced as she thought about the notebook that was buried deep inside. The mean words practically haunted her, but she didn't want to have to ask her mom to get another notebook or else she would have to show her the first one and then parents would be called and things would just get worse. It wasn't even worth it.

"A lot of things don't seem to be worth it anymore," Katie muttered under her breath, stretching herself out on her bed. "Maybe being in LA isn't worth it anymore." She didn't want to go out to LA in the first place; she had been dragged along because she couldn't stay in Minnesota by herself. But Kendall had been so adamant about making James's dream come true that she would have felt like a jerk if she didn't go. And she had made some good friends while she was out there, so that was good. The only thing that still bothered her was that it seemed that no matter how many times she seemed to get ahead of the game in LA, she was knocked right back down.

It was tough being a girl, but it was even harder when she was expected to be perfect.

Hearing laughter come from the sitting area of the apartment, Katie grabbed her textbook and a notebook and walked out of her room and into the living room. Her mother said that she could only go out on dates with Patrick if she got her homework done first, so she might as well get it done while hanging out with the boys. Katie smiled over at her mother, who stood at the stove making spaghetti, before jumping onto the couch next to James, who had his feet stretched out all the way. Katie ticked the bottom of his feet and he quickly pulled them back for some room, and then sat down in the space created. She glanced up at the TV screen watching the hockey highlights that were being shown.

_Figures, _she thought. _No matter what they do, they always get sucked back into hockey. _She started flipping back and forth between the equations she was supposed to be doing, the answers she was getting, and the answers in the back of the book. Letting out a huff of air, she wondered whether or not asking Logan for help would be worth, but decided against it. _He'll probably go off on some sort of a tangent about it and I don't need that much time wasted. _Katie looked at the equations once more and then turned the page.

She gasped.

The words _die, ugly, bitch, annoying, disappear, _and _cunt_ looked back at her.

She quickly snapped the book shut.

James, who was sitting next to her on his laptop, looked at her with concern. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos were too busy, their eyes glued to the TV. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing," Katie opened her book again. "I just thought I saw a bug."

* * *

**A/N: **Loved writing this chapter! It's my favorite one so far, though we're still a few chapters away from half way. For those wondering, and who have mentioned it before, we do have one-shots and stories about the boys (particularly Sydney and Noah) coming up so that you'll get a better look at them as a whole.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Worries

**.:Chapter 07:.**

* * *

Patrick pulled himself up on to the kitchen counter and examined the fruit bowl that was sitting next to him. He pushed a few bananas and oranges aside before picking up an apple. He turned his attention to his siblings, who were sitting around the kitchen with their father, Ronan, as he made dinner. Ronan gave him a disappointed look, but at least he was eating some fruit before dinner. Usually he went out on a binge fest with as much junk as he could and still have room for whatever anyone decided to make.

"So what did you and Gustavo have that meeting for today?" He really didn't care what Gustavo had needed him for that day, but it was better than thinking about the party that was coming up.

Though he had originally been excited to go, now he wasn't so sure it was a good idea. Why would Victoria, who made it clear she didn't particularly like Katie, want her to go? He had never met the girl, like, talked to her for an extended time, but from the brief introduction he had as well as hearing how upset Katie was on the phone, something wasn't sitting right with him.

He didn't think that going to a party would be so complicated. Up until he turned into a teenager, all it was going with his brothers and sisters and having sponsors, endorsements, and owners of the place trying to bribe him to go to said place over and over so they could get exposure. And while he liked parties, he didn't really like the ones that were thrown because it was just the stereotypical parties were people got drunk and the only reason that he was invited was so they could say that they had a celebrity go. He liked having a good time and would usually show up to the parties that his honest to go friends threw, but was typically hesitant on everything else.

The beach bonfire parties that they usually threw while they were in Australia were the best ones. Nothing made him have more fun than the beach, s'mores, hot dogs, burgers, shrimp, whatever could be cooked on a fire and night surfing. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't gone night surfing in a while. He made a mental note to go out again.

Reaching into his jeans pockets, he pulled out his phone to see if he had a text from Katie, letting him know it was a good time to go over to the crib to pick her up for their date. Seeing nothing, he replaced his phone and loudly bit into his apple.

What threw him off of this one was the fact that it was a girl that Katie generally disliked and would constantly complain about whenever they were hanging out. He knew the mean girl type and Victoria was the mean girl through and through, she he couldn't believe that she wasn't up to something when she had invited Katie to the New Year's Party. He felt a little guilty about it, especially since he was the one that convinced Mrs. Knight to let Katie go, so he was a bit anxious about what could happen at the party.

"Does he have any reason for having a meeting other than yelling at me?" Ronan replied with a roll of his eyes.

It wasn't that far of a stretch. Everyone knew that Gustavo Rocque preferred to yell at people to get his point across rather than telling them in a calm manner. If it wasn't' for the fact that he continuously got heart attacks or was afraid that his blood pressure would spike, he would probably scream at everyone in a forty mile radius.

"Probably not, but at least he tells you something when he's yelling," Noah remarked, leaning back on a stool, raising its front two legs off of the floor. "Hell, it's probably the only way that the guys get anything through their heads. Though we at least give them positive reinforcement."

"Speaking of 'the guys'…" Ronan turned away from the stove, after replacing a lid on a pot. "What are you guys' plans for that New Year's Party? Kace was asking just so we can be sure about who is going to be sleeping where." He dusted off his hands. "And knowing Carlos, I also have to make sure that we have enough food."

"Well, we were thinking of having a big dinner with everyone before we went," Rhuben said. "At least, that's what Camille is trying to plan. And then all go over to the party together. Then, depending on what some of them are planning on doing, they're going to come back and sleep here."

"How are you all going to get to the party and everything?"

"Probably a limo," Riley remarked after a moment of thought. "You know James would do whatever he can to get exposure if there's a limo involved." She reached over to Patrick and stole his apple, taking a bite and handing it back. Patrick then took another bite.

They didn't mind about sharing food when it came to each other—save for popcorn, ice cream, and whatever some of their favorite foods were—but whenever any of the Jacksons had their food taken away without being asked first, all hell could break loose.

Ronan smiled a little. "I'm sure the guys are going to be excited about that." No matter how many times Gustavo and Kelly had managed to get a limo to take Big Time Rush to whatever appearance or job they had to go to, they acted like it was the first time that they had ever been in one.

They continuously played with the windows, stuck their heads out of the sun roof, screamed at the tops of their lungs, and raided the mini-fridge that was stocked with as much junk food as they could imagine.

"The girls should be too," Sydney piped up. "I don't think they've ever been in a limo either." He smiled, his dimples appearing in his cheeks. "So don't be surprised if their heads are sticking out the window too."

"Yeah, they'd really be going for that _windswept_ look." Patrick laughed as his siblings rolled their eyes.

"What are you guys' plans for that night?" Ronan continued. "You never know what sort of things people can get into during New Year's and I can't risk my company ging downhill because one of you got lost."

"I don't think it'd be that bad if we lost Syd, do you?" Rhuben teased.

Sydney stuck his tongue out at her.

Patrick laughed.

"Lizz, Pat, Katie, and I are going as a group," Noah clarified. "That's what Lizzie says anyway. You know Lizzie, if you can't get a word in, you're stuck with her ideas." He smiled a little. "I'm sure that everyone else is going with the usual."

"Then I can pretty much guarantee that I'm probably going to get some sort of phone call from some sort of police or security because of something Carlos got into," Ronan said, tilting his head back as he thought. He squinted an eye shut before pointing over to his daughters with a knife. "Or from you two, so I'm going to stick by the phone as long as I can."

"You go ahead and do that Ronan," Rhuben said. She smirked, cocking up an eyebrow. "Only thing is if you do that it'll prove to Mama Knight that you really are a lame date for new year's." She then gave a sweet smile. "Then again, we already knew that."

Ronan paused for a moment before reaching over to grab her. Rhuben quickly ducked out of the way and pushed Riley towards him instead, who let out a cry of protest and tried to dig her heels into the kitchen floor. Her sock covered feet caused her to slip and fall onto her back. The kitchen erupted with laughter as Riley continued to lie there, holding her hands on her chest, blinking up at the ceiling.

"I still think we should bring back the nickname Spazley for this moment alone," Sydney remarked. Riley's eyes snapped to him and she glared. Sydney let out a yelp and launched himself around the kitchen counter, starting to run towards the far side of the room. Riley backrolled to her feet and chased after him.

Something nudged Patrick's arm. He turned to look at his twin and Noah made a few quick movements with his hands. Sign language. It would be easier to privately talk that way while Riley was chasing their baby brother, Ronan was yelling at them to stop (though he was smiling), and Rhuben was cheering them on. _What's up with you?_

Patrick quickly signed back. _I'm just not sure that this party is a good idea. You never know what could happen._

_Well, New Year's usually is a dangerous time of year._

_I don't mean for drinking and driving reasons, boofhead, I mean for this girl, Victoria. I think it's a little convenient that she wanted James and the guys to go to the party only for Katie to be able to be invited. I just don't' really believe that she fell for something like that._

_Well, she doesn't have many friends her age that are girls, only Lizzie. She's probably just trying not to be stuck with us guys all the time._

_Like Riles and Rhubes and Jo and Camille and Steph aren't good enough to be her friends? _Patrick made a face, looking at his younger brother with a raised eyebrow. Noah gave him a 'duh' look in reply before thinking and then starting to sign once more. Patrick shook his head, clenching his hands into fists. It was so funny, most relationships worked where you went through some sort of drama before the couple got together-if his sisters were any indication-but his was going the other way. No drama when he and Katie got together, only when they _were_ together. Well, if he didn't count that tiny blemish about the fights he was getting in, but that was hardly his fault. Right. Not wanting to talk about how he was feeling and having it all manifest in a different area of his life wasn't his fault.

_I didn't say that._ Noah thought for a long moment before continuing. But_ it can't be hard for her, when she's the only one out of all of us that's not in the industry in some way. Yes, she did a commercial just to get into the Palm Woods, but she hasn't done anything else. So while the rest of us are in the limelight and are constantly leaving LA for one reason or another, she's either dragged along to something she doesn't want to do or left behind. _Noah gave a gentle smile. _So I understand how she feels._

Patrick gave a half smile back. _Yeah, I getcha. But we should keep an eye out just in case; you don't know what fans'll do when celebs are around._

Noah nodded. He then grinned evilly. Patrick's eyes narrowed as Noah took his time thinking before he started to sign once more. _So are you going to kiss her when it hits midnight?_

Patrick shot out a hand and punched his brother hard on the shoulder. _Shut up! _

Noah smirked at him, but then it fell away to a calm expression. _We're going to have a good time._

Patrick nodded. _Thanks buddy._

Noah nodded back. _You're welcome, buddy._

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, kind of a cop-out that I basically re-used this part from _Do It All Again, _but I thought it really worked for the story so I wanted to bring it back. Besides, this story is a re-write (technically) of that story. I hope ya liked it anyway.

Cheers,

-Riles


End file.
